Analysis of Rural Areas of Ukraine on the Basis of ESA WorldCover 2020

Abstract

At present, GIS technologies penetrate various spheres of socio-economic life of humankind. In this paper, based on GIS technologies, the main classes of the land cover of Ukraine were analysed with further in-depth study in terms of regions and rural and urban areas. The results of this study are based on ESA WorldCover data; according to them, 32% of Ukraine’s territory can be attributed to urban areas, while 68% – to rural areas. In general, the analysis showed that Ukraine is characterised by a high degree of land using, so the land that was cultivated in 2020 accounted for 55.5% of its area. 70% of rural areas comprise cultivated areas, 30% – in urban areas. The leaders among the oblasts with the largest share of cultivated lands are Zaporizhzhia (76%), Kirovohrad (76%), Mykolaiv (77). An inherent feature of Ukraine’s land structure is a considerable share of land (15.3%) under meadows, hayfields, and pastures, which are vital in restoration and preservation and as an essential element of regional ecosystems. 66% of the territories of this class are concentrated in rural areas, on urban areas – 34%. Most of them are in Luhansk (26%), Lviv (24%) and Volyn (22%) oblasts. The level of forest cover in Ukraine is 23.3%, with 17.7% being forests and the other 6% – protective forest belts, orchards, and arboretums. Rural areas account for 64% of forested areas. The most forested areas are Zakarpattia (68%), Ivano-Frankivsk (54%) and Zhytomyr (45%), while the least forested are Kherson (4%), Zaporizhzhia (5%) and Mykolaiv (6%). In general, 71% of forested areas are rural and 29% are urban. In Ukraine, the share of surface waters covering the geographical area is 2.4%, of which 71% is in rural territories and 29% – in urban territories. Cherkasy (5%), Zaporizhzhia (6%), and Kherson (8%) oblasts are the top three oblasts in terms of surface water supply with 64%, 63% and 82% in rural areas, respectively (Figure 8). In turn, the oblasts with the smallest share of open water areas are Zhytomyr (0.5%), Luhansk (0.4%) and Zakarpattia (0.3%) oblasts, with 77%, 33%, and 46%, respectively.