Land use structure in the Molochna river basin: analysis by remote sensing data

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the land use structure in the Molochna River basin using remote data for 2021, as well as to analyze the impact of land use on the environmental state of the territory.

The main material. The Molochna River flows within the boundaries of the Zaporizhzhia region and has the status of the longest river in the northwestern Azov region. The physical and geographical conditions of the river basin with an area of 3450 km2 are favorable for agriculture, which causes active land use. The analysis of the structure of the land cover was performed according to the methodology of the LUCAS project, the initial data were Sentinel-2 satellite images for 2021, when the territory was not yet under occupation. In the ArcGIS Desktop software, a grid of 2×2 km cells with 877 control points in the center of the cells was set on the territory. In order to minimize the number of errors, the classification of all control points was performed by the method of visual interpretation, information about the land cover class assigned to each point was entered into the attribute table. The created map of the land cover structure of the Molochna River basin shows that about 69% of the land is used for the production of agricultural products, another 12% is the artificial land, and 8.6% is woodland. To assess the impact of the existing land structure on the environmental state of the territory, the coefficients of anthropogenic load, environmental sustainability and the indicator of arable land were used. According to the results of calculations, the territory of the Molochna River basin is subject to a high level of anthropogenic load, is environmentally unsustainable and is characterized by a critical level of plowing (67.17%), which significantly exceeds the average indicator of arable land in Ukraine (54%). Thus, the land structure of the territory of interest is not balanced. Military operations and the occupation by Russian troops also have a negative impact on the state of natural complexes, but it will be possible to fully assess the scale of the consequences only after the territory is completely de-occupied.

Conclusions and further research. The priority task of optimizing land use is to reduce the area of arable land in the river basin and increase the area of woodland and grassland, which will stabilize agricultural landscapes, stop soil degradation, and contribute to the preservation of biological diversity. Among the prospects for further research is the improvement of land use classification methods in Ukraine and their harmonization with European standards, considering the country’s declared course for European integration. After the end of hostilities and the de-occupation of the territory, attention should be paid to the creation of a map for the analysis of the land cover structure and state in the Molochna River basin, and to the development of a project to optimize land use in the region for the improvement of the environmental situation.