Modern methods of assessment of ecosystem services and the potential for their practical application

The result of more than 20-year study period of the ecosystem services are the mul- tiple evaluation values of the global and regional level. UNEP/GEF, TASIS, PROON/GEF projects as well as World Wildlife Fund of WWF made a great con- tribution with the practical developments in Russia. The Northern territories are of great importance for the country in both social-economic and environmental issues. These territories belong to a vulnerable ecological zone with very limited limits of ecological capacity, biological productivity, resistance to anthropogenic and techno- genic loads,which justifies special attention to the organization of the processes of using natural capital in the North. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate for- eign and domestic experience of assessment of ecosystem services and the imple- mentation of practical use in management decisions. We have considered the follow- ing methods: economic assessment; territorial modeling and mapping; creation of development scenarios. According to the concept of the general economic value, the functions of natural capital - resource, regulatory and cultural - are taken into account. The specificity of economic evaluation is the identification of participants of the process of using services, i.e producers (donors) and recipients of benefits. This assessment is necessary for the solution of such environmental and economic problems as justification of additional costs in projects (programs) for nature pro- tection measures, giving, together with ecological, great economic effect, the provi- sion of payments, credits, loans, grants for the conservation of ecosystems and their services. The method of assessment through modeling and mapping of ecosys- tem services allows to identify and visualize the most problematic types of land use where the demand for services considerably exceeds its stock/opportunities. Creat- ing a scenario of the development of environmental management is becoming the most perspective method of evaluation and is still being implemented only in for- eign countries of Europe. At present, the directions of practical application of eco- system services assessments in the field of payments, insurance premiums and mar- ket formation have been formed. The most appropriate for northern territories is the use of the compensation mechanism for assessment the value of ecoservices through nature protection measures, payments and insurance. The positive expe- rience of many countries proves the inevitability of drawing attention to the eco- nomic assessment, monitoring and adequate information base of elements of natural capital. For the regions of the North, it is necessary to create a "guide" on the use of ecosystem services (concepts, methodology of assessment, development of local requirements and measures to support services, etc.) for specialists making man- agement decisions in the field of environmental management.