International environmental monitoring. Russian environmental law. General issues of nature conservation

Monitoring- a system of repeated targeted observations of the objects under study in space and time.

Environmental monitoring- an information system for observing, assessing and predicting changes in the state of the environment, created to highlight the anthropogenic component of these changes against the background of natural processes.

It should be taken into account that the monitoring system itself does not include environmental quality management activities, but is a source of information necessary for making environmentally significant decisions.

Environmental monitoring in the Russian Federation is defined as a set of observations, assessments, forecasts carried out according to scientifically based programs, and recommendations and options for management decisions developed on their basis, necessary and sufficient to ensure the management of the state of the environment and environmental safety ( state report on the state of the environment in the Russian Federation, 1994).

The environmental monitoring system accumulates, systematizes and analyzes information:

  • - on the state of the environment;
  • - about the causes of observed and probable changes in the state (that is, about the sources of impact);
  • - on the admissibility of changes and loads on the environment as a whole;
  • - about the existing reserves of the biosphere.

Environmental monitoring of the environment can be developed at the level of an industrial facility, city, district, region, territory, republic as part of a federation.

Tasks of ecological monitoring of the environment. In order to radically increase the efficiency of work to preserve and improve the state of the environment, ensure human environmental safety in the Russian Federation "On the Creation of the Unified State System of Environmental Monitoring" (EGSEM). EGSEM solves the following tasks:

  • - development of programs for monitoring the state of the environment (OPS) on the territory of Russia, in its individual regions and districts;
  • - organization of observations and measurements of indicators of environmental monitoring objects;
  • - ensuring the reliability and comparability of observational data both in individual regions and districts, and throughout Russia;
  • - collection and processing of observational data;
  • - organizing the storage of observational data, maintaining special data banks characterizing the ecological situation on the territory of Russia and in its individual regions;
  • - harmonization of banks and databases of environmental information with international environmental information systems;
  • - assessment and forecast of the state of environmental protection facilities and anthropogenic impacts on them, natural resources, responses of ecosystems and public health to changes in the state of environmental protection systems;
  • - organization and implementation of operational control and precision changes in radioactive and chemical contamination as a result of accidents and catastrophes, as well as forecasting the environmental situation and assessing the damage caused to the environmental protection system;
  • - ensuring the availability of integrated environmental information to a wide range of consumers, including the public, social movements and organizations;
  • - information support of the management bodies of the state of the environmental protection system, natural resources and environmental safety;
  • - development and implementation of a unified scientific and technical policy in the field of environmental monitoring;
  • - creation and improvement of organized, legal, regulatory, methodological, methodological, informational, software-mathematical, hardware and technical support for the functioning of the USSEM.

EGSEM, in turn, includes the following main components:

  • - monitoring of sources of anthropogenic impact on the environment;
  • - monitoring of pollution of the abiotic component of the natural environment;
  • - monitoring of the biotic component of the natural environment;
  • - social and hygienic monitoring;
  • - ensuring the creation and functioning of environmental information systems.

Stages of ecological monitoring of the environment.

  • 1) defining the tasks of water quality monitoring systems and the requirements for the information necessary for their implementation;
  • 2) creation of the organizational structure of the observation network and development of principles for their implementation;
  • 3) building a monitoring network;
  • 4) development of a system for obtaining data/information and presenting information to consumers;
  • 5) creation of a system for checking the received information for compliance with the initial requirements and revising, if necessary, the monitoring system.

When developing an environmental monitoring project, the following information is required:

  • 1. sources of pollutants entering the environment - emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere by industrial, energy, transport and other facilities; wastewater discharges into water bodies; surface washouts of pollutants and biogenic substances into the surface waters of land and sea; the introduction of pollutants and biogenic substances onto the earth's surface and (or) into the soil layer together with fertilizers and pesticides during agricultural activities; places of burial and storage of industrial and municipal waste; technogenic accidents leading to the release of hazardous substances into the atmosphere and (or) the spill of liquid pollutants and hazardous substances, etc.;
  • 2. transfers of pollutants - processes of atmospheric transfer; transfer and migration processes in the aquatic environment;

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  • 3. processes of landscape-geochemical redistribution of pollutants - migration of pollutants along the soil profile to the level of groundwater; migration of pollutants along the landscape-geochemical conjugation, taking into account geochemical barriers and biochemical cycles; biochemical circulation, etc.;
  • 4. data on the state of anthropogenic emission sources - the power of the emission source and its location, hydrodynamic conditions for the release of emissions into the environment.

The monitoring system is implemented at several levels, which correspond to specially developed programs: impact (study of strong impacts on a local scale):

  • - regional (manifestation of problems of migration and transformation of pollutants, joint impact various factors characteristic of the regional economy);
  • - background (on the basis of biosphere reserves, where any economic activity is excluded).

When environmental information moves from the local level (city, district, zone of influence of an industrial facility, etc.) to the federal level, the scale of the map base on which this information is applied increases, therefore, the resolution of information portraits of the environmental situation changes at different hierarchical levels of the environmental monitoring. So, at the local level of environmental monitoring, the information portrait should contain all sources of emissions (ventilation pipes of industrial enterprises, wastewater outlets, etc.).

At the regional level, closely located sources of influence "merge" into one group source. As a result, in the regional information portrait, a small city with several tens of emissions looks like one local source, the parameters of which are determined according to the source monitoring data.

At the federal level of environmental monitoring, there is an even greater generalization of spatially distributed information. As local sources of emissions at this level, industrial areas and rather large territorial formations can play the role. When moving from one hierarchical level to another, not only information about emission sources is generalized, but also other data characterizing the ecological situation.

Objects of observation of ecological monitoring of the environment.

In the zone of influence of emission sources, systematic monitoring of the following objects and parameters of the environment is organized.

  • 1. Atmosphere: chemical and radionuclide composition of the gaseous and aerosol phase of the air sphere; solid and liquid precipitation (snow, rain) and their chemical radionuclide composition; thermal and humidity pollution of the atmosphere.
  • 2. Hydrosphere: chemical and radionuclide composition of the environment of surface waters (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc.), groundwater, suspensions and sediment data in natural drains and reservoirs; thermal pollution of surface and ground waters.
  • 3. Soil: chemical and radionuclide composition of the active soil layer.
  • 4. Biota: chemical and radioactive contamination of agricultural land, vegetation, soil zoocenoses, terrestrial communities, domestic and wild animals, birds, insects, aquatic plants, plankton, fish.
  • 5. Urbanized environment: chemical and radiation background air environment of settlements; chemical and radionuclide composition of food, drinking water, etc.
  • 6. Population: characteristic demographic parameters (population size and density, birth and death rates, age composition, morbidity, level of congenital deformities and anomalies); socio-economic factors.

Systems for monitoring natural environments and ecosystems include means of monitoring: the ecological quality of the air environment, the ecological state of surface waters and aquatic ecosystems, the ecological state of the geological environment and terrestrial ecosystems.

Environmental monitoring called regular observations of natural environments, natural resources, flora and fauna, carried out according to a given program, allowing to assess their state and the processes occurring in them under the influence of technogenic activity.

Environmental monitoring- this is a system of observations, assessment and forecasting, which makes it possible to identify changes in the state of the environment under the influence of technogenic activities.

The term "monitoring" is derived from the Latin. monitor - observing, warning (the so-called lookout sailor on a sailing ship). The idea of ​​global monitoring human environment of the natural environment and the term "monitoring" itself appeared in 1971 in connection with the preparations for the Stockholm UN Conference on the Environment (1972). The first proposals for the development of such a system were put forward by the Scientific Committee on Environmental Problems. Professor R. Mann in 1973 outlined the concept of monitoring in a staging aspect, which was discussed in February 1979 at the first Intergovernmental Meeting on Monitoring (Nairobi). R. Mann proposed to call monitoring a system of repeated observations of one or more elements of the natural environment in space and time with specific goals in accordance with a pre-prepared program.

At the end of XX - beginning of XXI century. In Belarus, monitoring of the natural environment and sources of anthropogenic impacts is carried out by the services of the State Committee for Hydrometeorology, Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Academy of Sciences and other departments.

The purpose of environmental monitoring is information support for the management of environmental activities and environmental safety (Fig. 2.1).

Monitoring includes:

  • ? monitoring changes in the quality of the environment, factors affecting the environment;
  • ? grade physical condition natural environment;
  • ? forecast of changes in the quality of the environment.

Observations are carried out on physical, chemical and biological, sometimes on specific indicators.

The system of environmental observations includes the determination of indicators of dangerous pollution of the environment by substances of technogenic origin, for example, heavy metal compounds, gas pollutants, etc.

The main source of information in the assessment is the data obtained in the process of observing the environment. The need for observations (new, additional or control information) arises at all stages of the assessment (Fig. 2.2).

Rice. 2.2.

for the state of the environment

For example, the forecast and assessment of the expected state of the atmosphere is an integral part of monitoring and is based on the study of the processes of the spread of pollutants, their transformations and the impact on various organisms. The forecast makes it possible to outline and implement not only measures to reduce harmful effects, but also preventive measures.

The measuring complex of unified environmental monitoring uses data from stationary (permanent observation posts) and mobile (car-laboratories, aerospace facilities, etc.) systems.

Allocate global, national, regional and local levels of monitoring.

Global (biospheric) monitoring carried out on the basis of international cooperation, allows to assess the current state of the entire natural system of the Earth. Observations are carried out by base stations in various regions of the planet (30-40 land and more than 10 oceanic). Often they are located in biosphere reserves (for example, in the Berezinsky biosphere reserve).

National monitoring carried out within the state by specially created bodies (in Belarus - the National Environmental Monitoring System - NSMOS).

Regional monitoring It is carried out at the stations of the system, where information is received within large areas that are intensively developed by the national economy and, therefore, are subject to technogenic impact.

TO local monitoring include observations of the air environment of various zones of the city, industrial enterprises. Such monitoring is carried out with the help of stationary, mobile or under-flare posts. This system exists in most large cities of Belarus and at large industrial enterprises.

The ground-based environmental monitoring system is usually divided into blocks that have their own tasks and support base (Table 2.1).

Biological, or bioecological (sanitary and hygienic), the monitoring unit constantly monitors the state of the environment and its impact on human health. The value of this monitoring unit is difficult to overestimate. Often people do not even imagine the danger they expose their health to living in a particular area. Comparison of indicators of some diseases in different territories will make it possible to establish the extent to which conditions are favorable or unfavorable for the life and activities of people.

geosystemic (geoecological, technical) the monitoring block includes observations of changes in natural geosystems and their transformation into natural and technical ones. Practice shows that forecasts for the creation of optimal natural and technical systems

General scheme of ground monitoring of the environment

Table 2.1

monitoring

Monitoring object

Characterized indicator

Services and support bases

Biological (sanitary)

Surface layer of air; superficial and ground water; industrial and domestic effluents and emissions; radioactive emissions

Hydrometeorological, water management, sanitary

epidemic

Geosystem (economic)

Disappear and e in and d d w and in from 11 s x

and plants; natural ecosystems; agricultural systems; forest ecosystems

Functional structure of natural ecosystems and its disturbance; population status of plants and animals; crop yields; plantation productivity

biospheric

Atmosphere (troposphere) and ozone screen; hydrosphere; vegetation and soil cover, animal population

Radiation balance, thermal overheating, gas composition and dusting; pollution of large rivers and reservoirs; water basins, circulations in vast watersheds and continents; global characteristics of the state of soils, vegetation and animals; global CO2 and O2 balances; large scale cycling

International Biosphere Stations

2.1. General characteristics of the control of the state of the natural environment

stsm, within which a person can live and work without harm to his health, can be obtained as a result of a thorough study of the mechanisms for the transformation of natural geosystems into natural-technical ones.

biospheric (global) the monitoring block covers observations of geospheric parameters on a global scale. This is the most complex observing system that allows predicting changes in the quality of the human environment on a global scale. As an example, we can cite forecasts of climate warming due to the occurrence of the "greenhouse effect" and its consequences for the nature of the planet. Another example is the concept of "nuclear winter" as a result of an atomic war - a vivid confirmation of the need to carefully study and take into account all forecasts for changing the nature of the Earth when conducting, in particular, international politics.

Priority areas of environmental monitoring. In studies of factors and sources of environmental impact, a number of priorities have been identified (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2

The most important objects of monitoring

Prioritization is based on the properties of pollutants, the possibility of organizing observations and is carried out according to the following criteria:

  • ? the result of actual or potential impacts on human health and well-being, climate or ecosystems;
  • ? tendency to degradation in the natural environment and accumulation in humans and food chains;
  • ? the possibility of chemical transformation in physical and biological systems, as a result of which secondary (daughter) substances may turn out to be more toxic or harmful;
  • ? mobility, mobility of pollutants;
  • ? actual or possible concentration trends in OS and (or) in humans;
  • ? frequency or magnitude of exposure;
  • ? the possibility of measurements;
  • ? importance for the assessment of the state of the environment;
  • ? suitability in terms of general distribution for uniform changes in a global or subregional program.

Pollutants according to the listed criteria are divided into classes with an indication of the medium and type of measurement program (Table 2.3).

Table 2.3

Classes of priority pollutants

The end of the table. 2.3

priority

Polluting

substance

Measurement program type

Nitrates, nitrites

Drinking water, food

Nitrogen oxides

Mercury and its compounds

food, water

air, food

carbon dioxide

Carbon monoxide

Petroleum hydrocarbons

Sea water

Fluorides

Fresh water

Drinking water

Microtoxins

Microbiological contamination

Reactive hydrocarbons

Note. G - global, R - regional, L - local monitoring.

As noted above, global (background or basic) monitoring observations are carried out in biosphere reserves. The network of stations should cover each of the types of bio-mes on Earth. The total number of required stations is estimated at 20-40 units. According to mandatory and desirable criteria (Table 2.4), reserves are selected that can potentially be used for global background monitoring.

Table 2.4

Criteria for selecting biosphere reserves for background

monitoring

The end of the table. 2.4

Mandatory criterion

Desirable criterion

Availability. The area should be accessible within reasonable limits, but access to it should be limited, for example, to a large number of cars

The absence of disturbance in the past should ensure the natural character of ecosystems. Since it is difficult to find such reserves in practice, the criterion is a minimum of violations.

Security. The reserve should be forever taken under legal protection

Permanent staff (more than 5 people). With an increase in staff, the opportunity to carry out a greater amount of work in the reserve, necessary for monitoring purposes, increases.

The staff must be permanent and consist of the following services:

  • protection;
  • scientific research;
  • local care;
  • technical work when making observations

Current scientific work:

  • pollutant monitoring;
  • fundamental ecological research;
  • environmental impact study

Vegetation in the reserve should approximately correspond to the main biogeographic types of the globe

Availability of meteorological, hydrological, geophysical, soil, geohydrological, biological data

Observations at global background monitoring stations are of a complex nature and are carried out according to a single program.

Thus, rational environmental management is possible if the information obtained by the environmental monitoring system and environmental monitoring is available and properly used.

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Environmental monitoring

Ecological monitoring (environmental monitoring) – a system for monitoring, evaluating and predicting the state of the natural environment surrounding a person. The ultimate goal of environmental monitoring is the optimization of human relations with nature, the ecological orientation of economic activity.

Environmental monitoring includes three main areas of activity:

– monitoring of impact factors and the state of the environment;

– assessment of the actual state of the environment;

– forecast of the state of the environment and assessment of the predicted state.

It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of "environmental monitoring" and " environmental control". The monitoring system does not include environmental quality management activities, but is a source of information necessary for making environmentally significant decisions. In relation to activities involving the adoption of active regulatory measures, the term "environmental control" should be used.

Environmental control - activities of state bodies, enterprises and citizens to comply with environmental standards and rules. There are state, industrial and public environmental control. In the environmental legislation of the Russian Federation public service monitoring is defined as part of the overall system of environmental control.

Environmental monitoring arose at the intersection of ecology, biology, geography, geophysics, geology and other sciences. There are different types of monitoring depending on the criteria: bioecological (sanitary and hygienic), geoecological (natural and economic), biospheric (global), space, geophysical, climatic, biological, public health, social, etc.

Depending on the degree of anthropogenic impact, there are impact and background monitoring. Background (basic) monitoring – tracking natural phenomena and processes occurring in a natural environment, without anthropogenic influence. It is carried out on the basis of biosphere reserves. Impact Monitoring – monitoring of anthropogenic impacts in especially dangerous areas.

Depending on the scale of observation, there are global, regional and local monitoring. Global monitoring – tracking the development of global biospheric processes and phenomena (for example, the state of the ozone layer, climate change). Regional monitoring - tracking natural and anthropogenic processes and phenomena within a certain region (for example, the state of Lake Baikal). Local monitoring – monitoring within a small area (for example, monitoring the state of air in a city).

In some cases, a combined classification is used, highlighting three levels of monitoring: impact(study of strong local scale impacts), regional(manifestation of the problems of migration and transformation of pollutants, the combined impact of various factors specific to the economy of the region) and background(on the basis of biosphere reserves, where any economic activity is excluded).

At the level local (sanitary and hygienic, bioecological, impact) monitoring the most important is the control of the following indicators:

1. The concentration of pollutants most dangerous for natural ecosystems and humans in life-supporting environments:

- in atmospheric air: oxides of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, ozone, dust, aerosols, heavy metals, radionuclides, pesticides, benzpyrene, nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrocarbons;

– in surface waters: radionuclides, heavy metals, pesticides, benzpyrene, pH, salinity, nitrogen, oil products, phenols, phosphorus;

– in soil: heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides, oil products, benzpyrene, nitrogen, phosphorus;

– in biota: heavy metals, radionuclides, pesticides, benzpyrene, nitrogen, phosphorus.

2. The level of harmful physical effects: radiation, noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields, etc.

3. Dynamics of morbidity due to pollution of the biosphere, in particular, birth defects.

Environmental monitoring points are located in large settlements, industrial and agricultural areas (cities, highways, territories of industrial and energy centers, nuclear power plants, oil fields, agroecosystems with intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers, etc.).

At the level regional (geosystem, natural and economic) monitoring monitoring of the state of ecosystems of large natural-territorial complexes (river basins, forest ecosystems, agroecosystems, etc.) is carried out, differences in their parameters from background territories are recorded due to anthropogenic impacts.

At the level global (biosphere, background) monitoring changes in the biosphere as a whole are tracked. The objects of global monitoring are the atmosphere, hydrosphere, soil cover, vegetation and animal world and the biosphere as a whole as the living environment of all mankind. The development and coordination of global monitoring of the natural environment is carried out within the framework of UNEP (a UN body) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The main objectives of this program are:

– organization of an expanded warning system for threats to human health;

– assessment of the impact of global atmospheric pollution on climate;

– assessment of the amount and distribution of contaminants in biological systems, especially in food chains;

– assessment of critical problems arising from agricultural activities and land use;

– assessment of the response of terrestrial ecosystems to environmental impacts;

– assessment of ocean pollution and the impact of pollution on marine ecosystems;

– Establishment of a natural disaster warning system on an international scale.

Of great importance in the organization of rational nature management is the study of the problems of nature management at the global, regional and local levels, as well as the assessment of the quality of the human environment in specific areas, in ecosystems of various ranks.

Monitoring is a system of observations, assessment and forecasting, which makes it possible to identify changes in the state of the environment under the influence of anthropogenic activity.

As well as negative influence As a result of economic activity, a person can also have a positive impact on nature.

Monitoring includes:

monitoring changes in the quality of the environment, factors affecting the environment;

assessment of the actual state of the natural environment;

forecast of changes in the quality of the environment.

Observations can be carried out according to physical, chemical and biological indicators, integrated indicators of the state of the environment are promising.

Types of monitoring. Allocate global, regional and local monitoring. (What underlies such a selection?)

Global monitoring allows assessing the current state of the entire natural system of the Earth.

Regional monitoring is carried out at the expense of the stations of the system, where information about the territories subject to anthropogenic influence flows.

Rational nature management is possible if the information provided by the monitoring system is available and properly used.

Environmental monitoring is a system for monitoring, evaluating and predicting changes in the state of the environment under the influence of anthropogenic impact.

Monitoring tasks are:

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the state of air, surface water, climate change, soil cover, flora and fauna, control of runoff and dust and gas emissions at industrial enterprises;

Drawing up a forecast on the state of the environment;

Informing citizens about changes in the environment.

Forecast and forecasting.

What is forecasting and forecasting? In various periods of the development of society, the ways of studying the environment have changed. One of the most important "tools" of nature management is currently considered forecasting. Translated into Russian, the word "forecast" means foresight, prediction.

Therefore, a forecast in nature management is a prediction of changes in the natural resource potential and needs for natural resources on a global, regional and local scale.

Forecasting is a set of actions that make it possible to make judgments about the behavior of natural systems and are determined by natural processes and the impact of humanity on them in the future.

The main purpose of the forecast is to assess the expected reaction of the natural environment to direct or indirect human impact, as well as to solve the problems of future rational nature management in connection with the expected states of the natural environment.

In connection with the reassessment of the system of values, the change of technocratic thinking to ecological thinking, there are changes in forecasting. Modern forecasts should be carried out from the standpoint of universal human values, the main of which are a person, his health, the quality of the environment, and the preservation of the planet as a home for humanity. Thus, attention to living nature, to man makes the tasks of forecasting ecological.

Types of forecasts. According to the lead time, the following types of forecasts are distinguished: ultra-short-term (up to a year), short-term (up to 3-5 years), medium-term (up to 10-15 years), long-term (up to several decades ahead), ultra-long-term (for millennia and more). -Lee forward). The lead time of the forecast, i.e. the period for which the forecast is given, can be very different. When designing a large industrial facility with a service life of 100–120 years, it is necessary to know what changes in the environment may occur under the influence of this facility in 2100–2200. No wonder they say: "The future is controlled from the present."

According to the coverage of the territory, global, regional, local forecasts are distinguished.

There are forecasts in specific branches of science, for example, geological, meteorological forecasts. In geography, a complex forecast, which many consider general scientific.

The main functions of monitoring are quality control of individual components of the natural environment and identification of the main sources of pollution. Based on monitoring data, decisions are made to improve the environmental situation, construct new treatment facilities at enterprises that pollute the land, atmosphere and water, they change logging systems and plant new forests, introduce soil-protective crop rotations, etc.

Monitoring is most often carried out by regional committees for hydrometeorological service through a network of points conducting the following observations: surface meteorological, heat balance, hydrological, marine, etc.

For example, monitoring of Moscow includes constant analysis of the content of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, the amount of nitrogen oxides, ozone and dust. Observations are carried out by 30 stations operating in automatic mode. Information from sensors located at the stations flows to the information processing center. Information about exceeding the MPC of pollutants is received by the Moscow Committee for Environmental Protection and the government of the capital. Both industrial emissions of large enterprises and the level of water pollution in the Moskva River are automatically controlled.

At present, there are 344 water monitoring stations in the world in 59 countries, which form the global environmental monitoring system.

Environmental monitoring

Monitoring(lat. monitor observing, warning) - a complex system of observations, assessment and forecast of changes in the state of the biosphere or its individual elements under the influence of anthropogenic influences

Main tasks of monitoring:

monitoring of sources of anthropogenic impact; monitoring the state of the natural environment and the processes occurring in it under the influence of anthropogenic factors;

forecast of changes in the natural environment under the influence of anthropogenic factors and assessment of the predicted state of the natural environment.

Classifications of monitoring by features:

Control methods:

Bioindication - detection and determination of anthropogenic loads by the reactions of living organisms and their communities to them;

Remote methods (aerial photography, sounding, etc.);

Physical and chemical methods (analysis of individual samples of air, water, soil).

environment. This system is administered by UNEP, a special body for environmental protection at the United Nations.

Types of monitoring. According to the scale of generalization of information, they distinguish: global, regional, impact monitoring.

Global monitoring- this is monitoring of world processes and phenomena in the biosphere and the implementation of a forecast of possible changes.

Regional monitoring covers individual regions in which processes and phenomena are observed that differ from natural in nature or due to anthropogenic impact.

Impact monitoring is carried out in especially hazardous areas directly adjacent to sources of pollutants.

According to the methods of conducting, the following types of monitoring are distinguished:

Biological (using bioindicators);

Remote (aviation and space);

Analytical (chemical and physical chemical analysis).

The objects of observation are:

Monitoring of individual components of the environment (soil, water, air);

Biological monitoring (flora and fauna).

A special type of monitoring is basic monitoring, i.e. monitoring the state of natural systems, which are practically not superimposed by regional anthropogenic impacts (biosphere reserves). The whole purpose of basic monitoring is to obtain data against which the results obtained by other types of monitoring are compared.

Control methods. The composition of pollutants is determined by methods of physical and chemical analysis (in air, soil, water). The degree of stability of natural ecosystems is carried out by the bioindication method.

Bioindication is the detection and determination of anthropogenic loads by the reactions of living organisms and their communities to them. The essence of bioindication is that certain environmental factors create the possibility of the existence of a particular species. The objects of bioindicative studies can be individual species of animals and plants, as well as entire ecosystems. For example, radioactive contamination is determined by the state conifers trees; industrial pollution - for many representatives of the soil fauna; air pollution is very sensitively perceived by mosses, lichens, butterflies.

The species diversity and high abundance or, conversely, the absence of dragonflies (Odonata) on the shore of the reservoir speak of its faunal composition: many dragonflies - the fauna is rich, few - the aquatic fauna is depleted.

If lichens disappear on tree trunks in the forest, then sulfur dioxide is present in the air. Only in clean water there are larvae of caddisflies (Trichoptera). But the small-scale worm (Tubifex), larvae of chironomids (Chironomidae) live only in heavily polluted water bodies. Many insects, green unicellular algae, and crustaceans live in slightly polluted water bodies.

Bioindication allows timely detection of a still not dangerous level of pollution and taking measures to restore the ecological balance of the environment.

In some cases, the bioindication method is preferred, since it is simpler than, for example, physico-chemical methods of analysis.

So, British scientists found several molecules in the liver of flounder - indicators of pollution. When the total concentration of life-threatening substances reaches critical values, a potentially carcinogenic protein begins to accumulate in the liver cells. Its quantitative determination is simpler than the chemical analysis of water, and provides more information about its danger to human life and health.

Remote methods are mainly used for global monitoring. For example, aerial photography is an effective method for determining the extent and extent of pollution from oil spills at sea or on land, ie tanker accidents or pipeline ruptures. Other methods in these extreme situations do not provide comprehensive information.

OKB im. Ilyushin, the aircraft builders of the Lukhovitsky Plant designed and built the Il-10Z, a unique aircraft to perform almost any task of state environmental and land monitoring. The aircraft is equipped with control and measuring and telemetry equipment, a satellite navigation system (СPS), a satellite communication system, an interactive on-board and ground-based measuring and recording complex. The aircraft can fly at altitudes from 100 to 3000 m, stay in the air for up to 5 hours, consumes only 10-15 liters of fuel per 100 km, and takes on board two specialists in addition to the pilot. The new Il-103 aircraft of the Aviation Center for Special Ecological Purposes, based at the Myachikovo airfield near Moscow, perform remote monitoring for environmentalists, aviation forest protection, emergency services and oil and gas pipeline transport.

Physical and chemical methods are used to monitor individual components of the natural environment: soil, water, air. These methods are based on the analysis of individual samples.

Soil monitoring provides for the determination of acidity, loss of humus, salinity. Soil acidity is determined by the value of the pH value (pH) in aqueous soil solutions. The pH value is measured using a pH meter or potentiometer. The content of humus is determined by the oxidizability of organic matter. The amount of oxidizing agent is estimated by titrimetric or spectrometric methods. Soil salinity, i.e., the content of salts in them, is determined by the value of electrical conductivity, since it is known that salt solutions are electrolytes.

Water pollution is determined by chemical (COD) or biochemical (BOD) oxygen consumption - this is the amount of oxygen consumed for the oxidation of organic and inorganic substances contained in polluted water.

Atmospheric pollution is analyzed by gas analyzers, which provide information on the concentration of gaseous pollutants in the air. “Multicomponent” analysis methods are used: C-, H-, N-analyzers and other devices that give continuous time characteristics of air pollution. Automated devices for remote analysis of atmospheric pollution, combining a laser and a locator, are called lidars.

Environmental quality assessment

What is evaluation and evaluation?

An important area of ​​monitoring research is the assessment of the quality of the environment. This direction, as you already know, has received priority in modern nature management, since the quality of the environment is associated with the physical and spiritual health of a person.

Indeed, they distinguish between a healthy (comfortable) natural environment, in which a person's health is normal or improving, and unhealthy, in which the state of health of the population is disturbed. Therefore, in order to preserve the health of the population, it is necessary to monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental quality- this is the degree of compliance of natural conditions with the physiological capabilities of a person.

There are scientific criteria for assessing the quality of the environment. These include standards.

Environmental quality standards. Quality standards are divided into environmental and production-economic.

Ecological standards establish maximum permissible norms of anthropogenic impact on the environment, the excess of which threatens human health, is detrimental to vegetation and animals. Such norms are established in the form of maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants (MPC) and maximum permissible levels of harmful physical effects (MPL). Remote controls are installed, for example, for noise and electromagnetic pollution.

MPC is the amount of a harmful substance in the environment, which for a certain period of time does not affect human health and does not cause adverse consequences for its offspring.

Recently, when determining MPC, not only the degree of influence of pollutants on human health is taken into account, but also the impact of these pollutants on natural communities as a whole. Every year more and more MPCs are set for substances in the air, soil, and water.

Industrial and economic environmental quality standards regulate the environmentally safe mode of operation of a production, utility, and any other facility. The production and economic environmental quality standards include the maximum allowable emission of pollutants into the environment (MAE). How to improve the quality of the environment? Many experts think about this problem. Environmental quality control is carried out by a special state service. Measures to improve the quality of the environment. They are combined into the following groups. The most important are technological measures, which include the development of modern technologies that provide complex use raw materials and waste disposal. The choice of fuel with a lower combustion product will significantly reduce emissions of substances into the atmosphere. This is also supported by electrification. modern production, transport and life.

Sanitation measures contribute to the treatment of industrial emissions through various designs of treatment plants. (Are there treatment facilities at the nearest enterprises in your locality? How effective are they?)

The set of measures that improve the quality of the environment includes architectural planning activities that affect not only physical but also spiritual health. They include dust control, rational placement of enterprises (they are often taken out of the territory of a settlement) and residential areas, landscaping of populated areas, for example, with modern urban planning standards, cities with a population of one and a half million people need 40-50 m2 of green space , it is obligatory to allocate sanitary protection zones in the settlement.

TO engineering and organizational measures include reducing parking at traffic lights, reducing the intensity of traffic on congested highways.

To legal measures include the establishment and observance of legislative acts to maintain the quality of the atmosphere, water bodies, soil, etc.

Requirements related to the protection of nature, improvement of the quality of the environment are reflected in state laws, decrees, and regulations. World experience shows that in the developed countries of the world, the authorities solve problems related to improving the quality of the environment through legislative acts and executive structures, which, together with the judicial system, are called upon to ensure the implementation of laws, finance large environmental projects and scientific developments, control enforcement of laws and financial costs.

There is no doubt that the improvement of the quality of the environment will be carried out through economic activities. Economic measures are associated, first of all, with the investment of funds in the shift and the development of new technologies that ensure energy and resource saving, and reduce emissions of harmful substances into the environment. The means of state tax and price policy should create the conditions for Russia's inclusion in the international system for ensuring environmental safety. At the same time, in our country, due to the economic downturn, the volume of introduction of new environmental technologies into the industry has significantly decreased.

educational measures are aimed at the formation of an ecological culture of the population. The quality of the environment largely depends on the formation of new value and moral attitudes, the revision of priorities, needs, and methods of human activity. In our country, within the framework of the state program "Ecology of Russia", programs and manuals for environmental education have been developed at all stages of obtaining knowledge from preschool institutions to the system of advanced training. Mass media are an important means in the formation of ecological culture. Only in Russia there are more than 50 types of environmental periodicals.

All activities aimed at improving the quality of the environment are closely interconnected and largely depend on the development of science. Therefore, the most important condition for the existence of all measures is the conduct of scientific research that improves the quality of the environment and the environmental sustainability of both the planet as a whole and individual regions.

However, it should be noted that the measures taken to improve the quality of the environment do not always bring a noticeable effect. An increase in the incidence of the population, a decrease in the average life expectancy of people, an increase in mortality indicate the development of negative environmental phenomena in our country.

Environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring(environment monitoring) is a complex system for observing the state of the environment, assessing and forecasting changes in the state of the environment under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors.

Usually, there are already a number of observation networks on the territory belonging to different services, which are departmentally separated, not coordinated in chronological, parametric and other aspects. Therefore, the task of preparing estimates, forecasts, criteria for alternatives for choosing management decisions on the basis of departmental data available in the region becomes, in general, uncertain. In this regard, the central problems of organizing environmental monitoring are ecological and economic zoning and the choice of "informative indicators" of the ecological state of territories with a check of their systemic sufficiency.

Types of monitoring

In general, the process of environmental monitoring can be represented as a diagram: the environment (or a specific environmental object) -> measurement of parameters -> collection and transmission of information -> data processing and presentation, forecast. Measurement of parameters, collection and transmission of information, processing and presentation of data are carried out by the monitoring system. The environmental monitoring system is designed to serve the environmental quality management system (hereinafter referred to as the "management system" for brevity). Information about the state of the environment obtained in the monitoring system is used by the management system to eliminate the negative environmental situation or reduce the adverse effects of changes in the state of the environment, as well as to develop forecasts of socio-economic development, develop programs in the field of environmental development and environmental protection.

In the management system, three subsystems can also be distinguished: decision-making (a specially authorized state body), decision-making management (for example, the administration of enterprises), decision-making using various technical or other means.

Monitoring systems or its types differ according to the objects of observation. Since the components of the environment are air, water, mineral and energy resources, bioresources, soils, etc., the monitoring subsystems corresponding to them are distinguished. However, the monitoring subsystems do not have a unified system of indicators, unified approaches for zoning territories, monitoring frequency, etc., which makes it impossible to take adequate measures in managing the development and ecological state of territories. Therefore, when making decisions, it is important to focus not only on the data of "private systems" of monitoring (hydrometeorological services, monitoring of resources, socio-hygienic, biota, etc.), but to create on their basis integrated systems of environmental monitoring.

Monitoring levels

Monitoring is a multilevel system. In the chorological aspect, systems (or subsystems) of the detailed, local, regional, national and global levels are usually distinguished.

The lowest hierarchical level is the level detailed monitoring implemented within small territories(plots), etc.

When detailed monitoring systems are combined into a larger network (for example, within a district, etc.), a local level monitoring system is formed. Local monitoring is intended to provide an assessment of changes in the system over a larger area: the territory of the city, district.

Local systems can be combined into larger ones - systems regional monitoring, covering the territories of regions within a territory or region, or within several of them. Such systems of regional monitoring, integrating the data of observation networks that differ in approaches, parameters, tracking areas and periodicity, make it possible to adequately form comprehensive assessments of the state of territories and make forecasts for their development.

Regional monitoring systems can be combined within one state into a single national (or state) monitoring network, thus forming national level) monitoring systems. An example of such a system was the Unified State System of Environmental Monitoring of the Russian Federation (EGSEM) and its territorial subsystems, which were successfully created in the 1990s to adequately solve the problems of territorial management. However, following the Ministry of Ecology, in 2002 the EGSEM was also abolished, and currently in Russia there are only departmental-scattered observation networks, which does not allow adequately solving the strategic tasks of managing territories, taking into account the environmental imperative.

Within the framework of the UN environmental program, the task was set to unite national monitoring systems into a single interstate network - the "Global Environmental Monitoring System" (GEMS). It's supreme global level organization of the environmental monitoring system. Its purpose is to monitor changes in the environment on Earth and its resources in general, on a global scale. Global monitoring is a system for tracking the state and forecasting possible changes in global processes and phenomena, including anthropogenic impacts on the Earth's biosphere as a whole. While the creation of such a system in in full, operating under the auspices of the UN, is a task for the future, since many states do not yet have their own national systems.

The global system for monitoring the environment and resources is designed to solve universal environmental problems throughout the Earth, such as global warming, the problem of preserving the ozone layer, earthquake forecasting, forest conservation, global desertification and soil erosion, floods, food and energy resources, etc. An example of such a system is the global observing network of Earth seismic monitoring operating within the framework of the International Earthquake Control Program (http://www.usgu.gov/) and others.

Environmental Monitoring Program

Science-based monitoring of the environment is carried out in accordance with the Program. The program should include the overall goals of the organization, specific strategies for its implementation and mechanisms for implementation.

The key elements of Environmental Monitoring Programs are:

  • a list of objects under control with their strict territorial reference (horological organization of monitoring);
  • a list of control indicators and acceptable areas for their change (parametric organization of monitoring);
  • time scales – frequency of sampling, frequency and time of data presentation (chronological organization of monitoring).

In addition, the Appendix in the Monitoring Program should contain diagrams, maps, tables indicating the place, date and method of sampling and reporting data.

Terrestrial Remote Surveillance Systems

At present, in addition to the traditional "manual" sampling, monitoring programs emphasize the collection of data using electronic measuring devices remote monitoring in real time.

The use of remote monitoring electronic measuring devices is carried out using connections to the base station either through the telemetry network, or through land lines, cellular telephone networks or other telemetry systems.

The advantage of remote monitoring is that many channels of data can be used for storage and analysis in one base station. This dramatically increases the efficiency of monitoring when the threshold levels of controlled indicators are reached, for example, in certain control areas. This approach allows, based on monitoring data, to take immediate action if the threshold level is exceeded.

The use of remote monitoring systems requires the installation of special equipment (monitoring sensors), which are usually masked to reduce vandalism and theft when monitoring is carried out in easily accessible areas.

Remote sensing systems

Monitoring programs widely involve remote sensing of the environment using aircraft or satellites equipped with multi-channel sensors.

There are two types of remote sensing.

  1. Passive detection of terrestrial radiation emitted or reflected from an object or in the vicinity of the observation. The most common source of radiation is reflected sunlight, the intensity of which is measured by passive sensors. Remote sensing environmental sensors are tuned to specific wavelengths ranging from the far infrared to the far ultraviolet, including visible light frequencies. The huge amounts of data that are collected by remote sensing of the environment require powerful computational support. This allows one to analyze slightly different differences in the radiation characteristics of the medium in remote sensing data, and successfully eliminate noise and “false color images”. With several spectral channels, it is possible to enhance contrasts that are invisible to the human eye. In particular, when monitoring bioresources, one can distinguish subtle differences in the change in the concentration of chlorophyll in plants by detecting areas with different nutritional regimes.
  2. In active remote sensing, a stream of energy is emitted from a satellite or aircraft and a passive sensor is used to detect and measure the radiation reflected or scattered by the object of study. LIDAR is often used to obtain information about the topographic characteristics of the study area, which is especially effective when the area is large and manual surveys would be expensive.

Remote sensing allows you to collect data about dangerous or hard-to-reach areas. Applications of remote sensing include forest monitoring, the effects of climate change on Arctic and Antarctic glaciers, coastal and ocean depth studies.

Data from orbital platforms, derived from various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, combined with ground-based data, provides information for monitoring trends in long-term and short-term phenomena, natural and anthropogenic. Other applications include natural resource management, land use planning, and various areas of geosciences.

Interpretation and presentation of data

The interpretation of environmental monitoring data, even from a well-designed program, is often ambiguous. There are often analyzes or "biased results" from monitoring, or use of statistics that is controversial enough to demonstrate the correctness of one view or the other. This is clearly seen, for example, in the treatment of global warming, where proponents claim that CO 2 levels have increased by 25% in the last hundred years while opponents claim that CO 2 levels have only risen by one percent.

In new science-based environmental monitoring programs, a number of quality indicators have been developed to integrate significant amounts of processed data, classify them and interpret the meaning of integral assessments. For example, in the UK the GQA system is used. These general quality ratings classify rivers into six groups based on chemical criteria and biological criteria.

To make decisions, it is more convenient to use the assessment in the GQA system than a lot of private indicators.

Literature

1. Israel Y. A. Ecology and control of the state of the natural environment. - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1979, - 376 p.

2. Israel Y.A Global Observing System. Forecast and assessment of the environment. Fundamentals of monitoring. - Meteorology and hydrology. 1974, No. 7. - S.3-8.

3.Syutkin V. M. Environmental monitoring of the administrative region (concept, methods, practice on the example of the Kirov region). - Kirov: VGPU, 1999. - 232 p.

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