RESEARCH ON THE PHENOMENON OF SELF-AFFORESTATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Extension of the forest area in Ukraine is one of the indicators confirming achievement of the goals of sustainable development. Therefore, the issue of protection, restoration and rational use of forest ecosystems is rather actual. The process of self-afforestation taking place on agricultural land, which are not used according to their intention because of their investment unattractiveness, due to lack of funds or other reasons, and thus, they are self-sown with forest plants, is one of the ways of the forest-covered area extension in Ukraine. There is no reliable information on the number of land plots with self-sown forests on agricultural land. Therefore, it is expedient to make inventory of them by using the tools of satellite remote sensing and field surveys. The author of the work suggests a conceptual model of planning the use of agricultural land with self-sown forests on the base of the inventory data. To make the best-possible decisions on the use of the land plots with self-sown forests, at the local level it is important to determine the rational direction of the self-sown forest use in the process of spatial planning on the base of the data of analysis of the soil and plant cover layer quality. Therefore, it is recommended to make zoning of the land by the kinds of land use (agricultural, forestry, recreational, nature protection). Basing on the zoning data and considering the potential ecosystem benefits from forests, it is necessary to develop measures on the self-sown forest use and protection.