The growing problems of water resources scarcity in various countries and regions – resources essential for human livelihoods and economic activities – together with a high degree of their pollution, require the development of adequate assessment tools capable of characterizing the current situation both spatially and temporally, identifying trends, and enabling timely management decisions. In this regard, the aim of this study is to develop an integrated model for comprehensive spatial dynamic ecological economic assessment of natural resource utilization and to test it with the help of the case of water use in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District of Russia. These regions are characterized by developed and diversified industrial sector with a high ecological intensity of impact on natural water bodies. The objectives of the study included the following: the scientific literature review on water use assessment, the development of analytical ecological economic tools consistent with the stated aim, and their approbation. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the development of an integrated model for comprehensive spatial dynamic ecological economic assessment of natural resource use and its testing on the case of water resources use in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District. The research employed methods of analysis, synthesis, analytical groupings, absolute and relative values, chain substitutions, statistical data analysis, and graphical representation. The information base of the study comprised open data published on the website of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation. The approbation results made it possible to characterize the type of ecological economic dynamics in conjunction with the type of decoupling, factor effects, and correlation relationships, as well as to identify the most priority (from the perspective of the severity of the current situation) and negative trends. The obtained results may be useful for public authorities in the development (updating) of projects and programs aimed at ensuring sustainable balanced development of the regions of the Russian North West
Keywords
Water resources, environmental economics, balanced natural resource use, regional economics, sustainable development, spatial analysis, dynamic analysis, decoupling