Land use of frontier regions of Ukraine: Social and economic patterns

Frontier regions have their specific in land-use, which is connected with regions' economy, geographical parameters and social structure. Social parameters can be characterized by a set of indices which display levels of well-being, unemployment rate, poverty rate, corruption, etc. Their spatial distribution shows trend of social issues of the region. Although in the Western, the North-Eastern and the South-Western parts of Ukraine there are different economic, natural and social conditions, some typical issues in social life, local-specific patterns in economy and land use that are common for frontier regions in Ukraine were selected to analyze. Fragmentation of land parcels and different levels of local economic development near the state boundary along with issues in land use and environmental management are the important problems in the Ukrainian near-frontier territories. Human-Environment interactions in frontier regions in Ukraine are often connected with nature conservation activities and tourism. The comparison of typical frontier regions in Zakarpattya, Chernihiv and Odessa regions as key plots shows the general image of frontier territories in Ukraine, which have their specific structure of land use. Recommendations for sustainable region development and rational land use are shown in the article. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.