Methodological approaches to environmental assessment of rural settlements for justification of the sustainable development strategy

The article studies methodological approaches to the environmental assessment of the quality of the environment and the quality of the population of rural settlements. The components of the “rural environment” of life activity include the factors of life support of rural residents or are the resource potential that determine the viability and vitality of the rural environment. The polystructurality of the living environment forms a special functional regime within the boundaries of rural settlements and agricultural activities. At the present stage, the population of rural settlements is experiencing the following negative factors: an increase in morbidity, genetic disorders, mortality, complication of social relations, and economic decline. The life activity of a rural resident is closely interrelated with the natural environment, agricultural activities and has wide spatial boundaries, including various spectra: home, household, objects of agricultural activity. The result of the processing is the compilation of morphometric maps. The map is the basis for creating predictive models for the course of exogenous processes. A monitoring algorithm, which collects data according to the scheme of a typical random nest selection, is important for the environmental analysis of the living environment of rural residents. The sample range, which guarantees the survey of various features of rural settlements, is calculated according to the rules of the sampling method for 145 villages. Rural settlements within the Voronezh region with a population of more than 500 people were studied in terms of medical and demographic indicators