ASSESSMENT OF ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACT ON LAND WITHIN THE SMALL RIVER BASINS OF WESTERN POLISSYA IN UKRRAINE

Relevance of research. Efficient use of land resources in river basins is one of the global problems today. After all, intensive economic activity in the basin of any river significantly affects the quantitative and qualitative indicators of its state, which in turn leads to certain anthropogenic pressures. As a result of this activity, the ecosystems of catchment areas change, that causes their pollution, the transformation of natural ecosystems of river valleys and adjacent territories. The purpose of the research is to assess the anthropogenic impact on land resources within the basins of the small rivers of Western Polissya in Ukraine Research methods. The initial information was obtained from the data of the State Land Cadastre of Ukraine, projects of internal land management, materials of soil survey of lands and rivers, technical documentation on establishing water protection zones and coastal strips of rivers and reservoirs, regional schemes of anti-erosion measures, river passports, etc. On the basis of informative materials within each basin, the areas of agricultural and arable land as well as forests and forest areas, water mirrors, swamps and wetlands were specified. The level of urbanization, the areas of natural lands (forests and forest areas, flooded areas, hayfields, pastures and etc.) and eroded lands were determined, as well as an annual soil loss were calculated. Research results. Significant anthropogenic interference in the river catchments of the study area, namely: deforestation, involving the large land areas in agricultural production, their ploughness, reclamation measures carried out on an environmentally unjustified large scale, the development of wind and water erosion - all this significantly affected their conditions. The obtained results show that the conditions of 46% of the rivers are assessed with the status of "below average" and "unsatisfactory" by the forest cover, by the rate of a natural state there are 54% of such rivers, by the degree of agricultural development there are 42% of the rivers, by the degree of ploughness - 54%, by the urbanization rate - 21% and by the erosion degree - 54%. Consequently, the analysis of most indicators of land use in the river basins of the region indicates that almost half of them (except by the urbanization rate) is in unsatisfactory and far from environmentally acceptable conditions.