Monitoring of land use and land abandonment at the municipal level: example of Samara region

Abstract

The article discusses modern legal regulation of land monitoring and necessary changes in appropriate legislation. Land monitoring is divided into monitoring of land use and monitoring of land quality. The problem of land abandonment or non-use of land resources on the example of Samara region, where more than 75 % of territory is agricultural land has been studied. Inverse relationship between remoteness of local municipality from centre of the Samara-Togliatti agglomeration and area of unfarmed agricultural land has been analysed. Since the start of land reform, large areas of abandoned land have appeared in Samara region. The information on unfarmed agricultural land on municipal level of Samara region has been presented and the changes in their quality conditions are characterized. At federal level the program for prevention and elimination of land abandonment has been developed and implemented, the results of this program have been analysed. However, there are significant problems in monitoring of land conditions. It is proved that absence of single authority for land management on national level and fragmentation of this function across different federal ministries leads to uncoordinated actions and lack of reliable information about land quality. As result, land quality continues to deteriorate, degradation processes are going on. At municipal level there are no possibilities and necessary investigation materials for land management and monitoring. The following measures are proposed as main recommendations for solving land use and land abandonment problems: creation of single authority for land stock management, implementation of comprehensive inventory of land on municipal level, improvement of cadastral valuation system according updated materials and technologies, as well as certification of agricultural land for soil quality and properties. The purpose of the research was the study of results of land monitoring in Samara region for analysis of dynamics of land stock and identification of main reasons for formation of unused (abandoned) agricultural land in the region. It is proved that land stock of Samara region mainly consists of agricultural lands, and most part of them (60 %) are owned by citizens. Significant problem of land use is the availability of unused arable land, which is 8 % on average in the region, but in local municipalities it ranges from 0 % to 29 %. The highest proportion of unused arable land is located in areas closer to Samara-Togliatti agglomeration, where most of the land has been privatized by individuals for conversion to other land categories and further resale, as well as problems with uncontrolled urbanization there have been observed.