In the Western region of Ukraine, melioration is both of economic and social importance. The area of reclaimed lands constitutes 2.2 million ha or 24 % of the total agricultural lands in the region. Thus, melioration is of great importance for social-economic development of agro-industrial complex of the territory. Under conditions of the land reform in Ukraine, reclaimed lands were subjected to sharing and privatization causing a negative impact on efficiency of its utilization and technical conditions of the reclaimed land infrastructure. The aim of the research is to analyze conditions and suggest practical recommendations as to rise of productivity of reclaimed lands, peculiarities of land organization on privatized reclaimed areas, consolidation of shared lands within the boundaries of acting drainage systems. Timeliness of the research is connected with the issues of improvement of agricultural utilization and protection of drained lands of the region. The authors used economic-statistical, monographic and logistic methods in the research. The example of Lviv region was used to analyse conditions and problems of reclaimed lands of western regions of Ukraine under conditions of land relations’ transformation. It is mentioned that only 70 % of drained areas feature satisfactory water-air regime of soil for cultivation of agricultural crops. Prospects of an increase of their utilization efficiency are connected with reconstruction of the systems consolidating common technological melioration complexes, support of both-side regulation of soil humidity.

The media frequently refers to the concept of abandoned land. The reasons for its occurrence are discussed and the ways to diminish the problem are being searched for. Various sources of information were used for the research. They enabled the authors to identify the concept of abandoned lands. In addition, the situation of abandoned lands was analysed and causes of occurrence of such lands in one cadastral area of mid-Lithuania municipality were defined. According to the set of data, concerning abandoned lands (AŽ_DRLT), the data, provided in the mentioned data set and the data obtained during field testing were compared. The survey of the terrain was conducted in the early autumn of 2013 and repeated in the late spring of 2014. In order to find out why the land was abandoned, the surveyor of cadastral area was additionally interviewed. On the basis of the latest data of 2014, 123 spaces of abandoned lands, which occupy 59.74 ha, were found in Sujainai cadastral area. Having analysed the set of abandoned land data, it was identified that boundaries of 95 abandoned plots corresponded to the situation in the area, whereas boundaries of 28 areas should be corrected. Moreover, the abandoned areas that had not been marked were found while the land abandonment in the terrain was obvious. Although the amount of abandoned land is decreasing in both the area analysed and throughout Lithuania, the situation is not favourable. Having conducted the research, it was found that the main reasons for land abandonment in Sujainai cadastral area were as follows: poor fertility in non-productive lands (up to 32 points) and reclamation; no potential land consumers, purchasers or tenants of land areas of high productivity or it is complicated and expensive to pursue agricultural activity there.

The problem of abandoned agricultural land is relevant in Lithuania, particularly in the territories where poor soils are dominant. The aim of this research is to analyze the statistics of abandoned land in poor soil regions by different estimation methods. The abandoned land was registered for the purposes of the research. Areas might be determined by using statistical data and by applying the results of a distant research method. The initially obtained data showed large differences among the areas of abandoned land determined by different calculation methods, and this might cause a lot of problems, in particular when clarifying the validity of the land taxation. Therefore the initial data of the research concerning abandoned land should be essentially revised. The results of abandoned land accounting and evaluation (inventory) in each territory should be checked and confirmed by the committee of qualified specialists. The reasons of abandonment should be determined for each land plot, and further use of the plot should be determined. Plots of abandoned agricultural land should be estimated for each parcel of the private land and registered in the cadastre data as additional information for estimation of the land tax.

The issues of environmental protection, prevention of degradation and reclamation of damaged land are currently very significant and relevant. As damaged land has been observed the land where low productivity and low economic potential have arisen and natural productivity of ecosystems is changed due to human-caused activities. The nature and extent of the violation depends on the type, depth and duration of anthropogenic impact, on adopted system of work organization and the conditions of the environment. Black soil dominates in the soil cover in Samara region; therefore there has been developed agricultural production. However there are located large oilfields and gas fields, which are under active exploitation and reduction of vegetation, dumping technological sites, laying trenches for pipelines, etc. have been noticed, which leads to formation of technogenic soils, damaged land cover, loss of soil fertility and land use type change. There special restoration measure − reclamation should be putted into practice on the territory of all categories of land, but especially on agricultural land. The aim of the article is to study the situation with damaged agricultural land in Samara region of Russia and to develop scientifically based proposals for regeneration of its fertility after reclamation measures. The problems of pollution of agricultural land in the region have been investigated, main sources and types of pollution have been analysed, as well as legal, methodological and environmental protection documents on land reclamation have been studied. The peculiarities of reclamation of land on federal, municipal and property level have been considered. The article presents measures for reclamation of the land on the example of natural monopolies in the territory of the Samara region.

The article presents the analysis of the change of land users in the Republic of Lithuania during the period between 1919 and 1940. The main factor affecting the relationship of land and its use was the political changes in the country, whereas economic and social aspects had less influence. During the period between 1919 and 1939 the land reform of independent Lithuania not only strengthened the country's agriculture, but also laid the foundations for the entire nation-state, it was one of the most significant achievements of independence, a real agrarian revolution, which intensified the land use. The main goal of the land reform was to alienate and distribute the state land and the land of large estates to peasants and to complete distribution of village land into individual farmsteads. Landlords were left inalienable 80 hectares (later 150 ha) of land area. The land from the State Land Fund was distributed to volunteers and new settlers (the landless) peasants up to 8-10 ha, to estate workers and rural craftsmen – up to 1.5-2 ha, as well as to poor peasants, state enterprises, farms and forestries, etc.

The main reason of land fragmentation in Latvia was the restitution of ownership rights to former landowners or their heirs, as well as the land acquisition by other persons in the process of the land reform. As a result the ownership structure was obtained which is not competitive in the aspect of production efficiency. Different instruments as land consolidation, land reallotment and others can be applied for the reduction of land fragmentation. The reduction of land fragmentation should play an essential role in the use of the land corresponding to the spatial development plans which determines perspective land use. Therefore the improvement of the ownership structure should be one of the stages of land use planning.

The zones of ecological trouble cover about 15% of the territory of Russia, where the main production capacities and the most productive agricultural lands are concentrated. The Samara region is characterized by a distinct natural zonality from a typical forest-steppe in the North with a forest cover close to 30%, to an open dry steppe in the South with a natural forest cover of only 0.1...0.2%. The article presents an analysis of land use in the Samara region on the example of the Borsky municipal district. Research methods include environmental analysis and statistical data analysis.The article presents an analysis of the land use of the Borskiy municipal district. During zoning, the territory of the district is divided into the northern, central and southern parts. Assessment of environmental and economic parameters showed heterogeneity of the territory and the need for detailed consideration of climatic, soil, economic conditions in the design of landscape optimization systems, even in the municipal area. In general, the district's land fund experiences an average anthropogenic load, the ecological stability of the territory as a whole is characterized as unstable stable. In comparison with other areas of the Central MES, the municipal Borskiy district belongs to the category with an average ecological intensity with a stabilization index of 0.59 units due to the beneficial influence of the Buzuluksky area.

Starting in 2016, the process of financial decentralization began in Ukraine, in which local governments of lower levels (rural, urban, city councils and united territorial communities) were entitled to independently establish on their territory the rates of many local taxes and fees credited to community budgets. In particular, tax legislation of Ukraine allows local governments to vary land tax rates in the range from 0.1 to 3% of the normative monetary valuation of land, as well as to differentiate tax rates depending on the type of intended use of land plots. The study created a database and analysed the spatial heterogeneity of land tax rates in more than 9.6 thousand communities. It is shown how the level of tax burden on land owners and land users, established by local self-government bodies, correlates with the economic development of the regions, as well as the normative monetary valuation of land, which is used in Ukraine as a tax base. The problems of taxation of real estate, which arise at the separate collection of land tax and tax for real property other than land, are considered, as well as suggestions on the necessity of introduction of tax zoning of territories in Ukraine, which will allow to further differentiate the rates of taxes on the property and provide more flexible and adaptive taxation of real estate.

The article presents the analysis of the current situation of the forest area in Alytus and Vilnius Counties. Comparative, analytical as well as statistical and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The aim of the investigation is to carry out the analysis of the Alytus and Vilnius Counties forest area during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The object of the investigation – Alytus and Vilnius Counties forest area. Tasks of the investigation: 1. To describe the status quo of forest in Alytus and Vilnius Counties. 2. To analyze and compare the forest area change in Alytus and Vilnius counties during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The study found that forests prevailing in Alytus and Vilnius Counties are 50–59 years old. It was determined that pine trees prevail in Alytus County (71.05 percent) and in Vilnius County (16.38 percent) as well. The type of ownership prevailing in both Alytus and Vilnius counties is the forests of state significance managed by forest enterprises, national parks and state reserves. In Alytus County, during the period between the years 2006 and 2018, the forest area decreased by 4123.16 ha or 1.55 percent, in Vilnius County increased by 9593.16 ha or 2,35 percent.

The main purpose of data mining in private and public sector institutions is to process and analyse data with the aim of generating reliable information for decision-making. Decision-making performance is determined by the availability of the relevant data and the user’s ability to adapt that data for analytical purposes. The popularity of spatial statistical tools is on the rise owing to the complexity of the analysed factors, their variation over time and their correlations with the spatial structure. Popular models should be applied in demographic analyses for the needs of the spatial planning process. The availability of high-resolution data and accurate analytical tools enhances the value of spatial analyses, and the described models can be universally applied to support the decision-making process. The aim of this study was to present the applicability of selected spatial statistical models for analysing demographic data in the planning process and to identify the main advantages of these models.