NATURAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURES OF THE PLAIN REGION OF UKRAINE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2721.2026.96.4Keywords:
flat Ukraine, natural «zones», natural-economic structures, forest-field, rational use of natural resourcesAbstract
Background. Geographers and landscape scientists devote considerable attention to natural-geographical zoning. However, such zoning schemes generally take little account of the anthropogenic factor, which results in an incomplete picture of the actual state of the identified natural structures. Objective – using the example of the lowland part of Ukraine, to substantiate the existence of modern natural-economic structures for their subsequent rational use.
Methods. To achieve this objective, the concepts of the interaction between nature and society, the theory of anthropogenic landscapes and the corresponding principles of historicism, adaptability and comprehensiveness were employed, along with methods of analysis and synthesis and GIS technologies.
Results. A terminological analysis of the outdated term «natural zone» was conducted, and the relationship between the boundaries of past natural zones and modern natural-economic structures in the lowland part of Ukraine was examined. Three natural-economic structures have been identified and substantiated – forest-meadow-pasture, forest-field and field; issues that may arise when delineating their boundaries have been examined, particularly between the forest-field and field natural-economic structures. The corresponding maps show their current boundaries and indicate that the areas, composition and boundaries may change in the course of further economic use.
Conclusions. At the beginning of the 21st century and beyond, the forest-field structure is and will remain the main natural-economic structure of the lowland part of Ukraine. To better understand this, particularly the current state and future directions of the sustainable use of available natural resources, geographers specialising in physical geography and landscape scientists in Ukraine must pay significantly more attention to this area. The country’s main economic potential will be concentrated within the forest-field natural-economic structure.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Григорій ДЕНИСИК, д-р геогр. наук, проф., Людмила АТАМАН, канд. геогр. наук, доц., Богдан ДЕНИСИК, канд. геогр. наук, доц., Інна ВОЙНА, канд. геогр. наук, доц.
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