Assessment of eco-economic effect for specially protected areas

One of the areas of regional sustainable development is the formation of a network of specially protected natural areas. An important role in terms of biodiversity conservation in modern conditions belongs to the last remaining fragments of indigenous forests located along the Northwestern part of the state border of Russia, the so-called Green Belt of Fennoscandia. Creating new protected natural facilities on this territory is related to changes in the mode of natural resource management and requires assessment of the eco-economic effect of their arrangement. The purpose for the paper is to assess the eco-economic effect of the existing and projected specially protected areas within the Karelian part of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia. The research methodology is based on the theory of total economic value; methods of comparative and statistical analysis are used for assessment. The informational framework includes data obtained from open sources including materials of the Federal State Statistics Service, published reports on Tacis projects, and justifications for creating new protected areas...