Mapping the Natural Environment and Natural Resources

Summary

Mapping the Natural Environment and Natural Resources (Nauka, 1983) collects preliminary scientific and methodological work for a proposed comprehensive world atlas, Natural Environment and Natural Resources. The preface calls for combining conventional maps of natural conditions with new themes addressing human activity, environmental conditions, and resource use. It identifies source completeness and the extent of geographical knowledge as constraints on atlas design, while several contributors advocate a regional-typological approach. The accompanying article summaries cover continental relief, geomorphological mapping sources for Latin America, water resources and water balance, environmental conditions and protection in Europe and Africa, integrated physical-geographical regionalization of land and ocean, land use, and cultivated-land productivity. Reported work includes computer-generated water-balance maps of Africa; proposals include classifying regions by resource potential and preparing separate continental maps of cultivated land. The material documents research directions and recommendations at the atlas-planning stage, without presenting a completed atlas.