Geoenvironmental justification for determining the nature conservation potential of areas

In article the geoenvironmental approach offered by authors to an estimation of environmental conservation potential of natural area is presented. The basic estimation criteria are revealed and justified. An estimation of environmental conservation potential is carried out on the basis of estimation criteria which characterize natural area in terms of determining of its natural potential. It is proposed to use the following main factors in the assessment of the environmental conservation potential: geodiversity, dangerous natural phenomena, biodiversity and anthropogenic pressure. These factors are used by various authors for the assessment of separate types of environmental conservation potentials. For each factor their use in the complex geoenvironmental approach in an estimation of environmental conservation potential of areas is justified. In paper it is marked, that the offered approach of an estimation of environmental conservation potential of natural area is partly universal in use and allows entering additional criteria of estimation within each factor. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.