National Parks of the North Caucasus: Current Status and Environmental Issues

Aim . Analysis of the current state and main environmental issues of the national parks in the North Caucasus. Methodology . The work is based on the analysis of literary and stock sources, time-dated remote material (aerial photographs (1957-1985), Landsat-7, Landsat-8), data from longterm field landscape studies, and repeated landscape descriptions of test sites in the Prielbrusye and Teberdinsky National Parks. The main indicators of the state and dynamics of landscapes are the characteristics of their morphological structure (combination, configuration, boundaries, and size of local natural complexes) and vertical structure (characteristics of natural components), with special attention to the state of vegetation – the composition and characteristics of plant tiers, the presence of mechanical damage, the condition of tree and shrub needles and leaves, etc. Results . The national parks of the North Caucasus are among the most popular in Russia. In 2024, they were visited by more than 8.6 million people, which accounted for almost 57% of the total number of tourists in all national parks of the country. The borderline high-altitude location of most parks, their complex landscape structure with altitude-zone differentiation, and the abundance of geosystems formed by active exogenous processes (mudflows, avalanches, etc.), as well as the dynamic nature of the landscapes, reduce the parks' resistance to anthropogenic impact. Due to the intensive development of tourism and recreation, the conservation role of the oldest protected areas has decreased. The Teberda Nature Reserve has been transformed into a national park, the Alania Nature Reserve has been transformed into a "protected area" to protect the environment and the traditional way of life of the indigenous population, and parts of the Prielbrusye Nature Park have been transformed into a special economic zone for tourism and recreation, which has been removed from the park's boundaries. In the functional zoning of parks, for example in Prielbrusye, the recreational zone has increased from 7% to 24%, and part of this zone and the economic zone often coexist with the protected zone in parks. The greatest changes in the spatial structure of landscapes have been identified for mountain-forest landscapes, especially valley and mountain-meadow landscapes, with an increase in the proportion of anthropogenic complexes (residential, recreational, transport, and protective), the area of natural landscapes is decreasing, and their ecological state is deteriorating, which increases the risk to preserve their biodiversity and cultural and aesthetic value. Research implications . When developing measures for the further recreational use and protection of national parks in the context of increased anthropogenic impact and climate change, it is necessary to determine the characteristics of the current state and dynamics of landscapes. This should become the basis for a scientifically sound functional zoning of national park territories in accordance with their current state and the prospects for the development of regulated tourism and recreation, with an increasing role for ecological and educational tourism.