The problem of damage assessment when making economic decisions in the northern territories

Research involving the introduction of accounting for ecosystem service values in planning economic activities are becoming very diverse: from the cartographical representation of information to the simulation of scenario approaches to the territories' development taking into account their ecosystems changing. The aim of the work is to assess the damage from the loss of ecosystem services in the territory designated for waste landfilling. Given the specific conditions of the Northern territories, the main objectives are the identification of key ecosystem services, consideration of their assessment methods, calculation of damage from the loss of environment regulating functions and determining their reliability. Due to the fact that most natural capital's functions cannot be “sold or put out to tender”, the “non-market” approaches/methods are used such as subjective evaluation (willingness to pay for benefits); preventive expenditures (i.e. the costs of damage mitigation); opportunity costs; recovery cost, etc. The existence of many approaches and methods of assessment lead to different calculated rates the of ecosystems value. In 2019 the calculation of the environment-forming functions (carbon dioxide depositing; water management, water protection and water purification; absorption of contaminants from the atmosphere, conservation of biodiversity; prevention of soil erosion) was made using the methods of alternative assessment, substitute goods, indirect market valuation and regulatory method based on the data from field research in the case of the potential solid waste landfill in Shies station. The loss of functions is presented in the range of 21.6-162.7 million rubles at a discount rate of 10% and 72.0-542.3 million rubles at a discount rate of 3% in the territory of 300 hectares where 15 hectares are intended for waste landfilling. The calculations made using the data on the planned costs and benefits for the construction and operation of the facility proved its economic expediency. The novelty of the research consists in testing the evaluation of the damage from the loss of ecosystem services by means of different methods and comparing the reliability of data for the actual, and equivalent characteristics of the territory. As the non-market evaluation techniques of ecosystem services were used, the situation is inevitably associated with an average or low degree of reliability of the obtained values. The discussion about the confrontation of “nature” and “commerce”, the double counting of some functions of nature, the hypothetical character (alternative products use), the unclear indicators reflecting the use of the service, the limited consideration of the range of services and their adequate assessment, the low information security, is still going on.