Assessment of Ecosystem Services of Historical and Cultural Lands (Using Example of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy)

Abstract

This paper outlines the methodology of the assessment of ecosystem services in historical and cultural lands. For the territory of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy (Tula oblast, Shchekinsky district), a general list of ecosystem services was formed and their economic interpretation was carried out. The most useful ecosystem services for people are cultural services–tourism and recreation. The value of recreational services was determined by travel costs and an alternative method based on the definition of the public value of the museum-estate. It was established that none of the isolated degradation processes of soil and land has substantial impact on the implementation of recreational services, and carrying out large-scale remediation here is economically unjustified.