"The authors...discuss--on the basis of census statistics and poll results--the three basic trends of Soviet migrational processes (movement to the eastern and northern regions of new development from the country's densely settled regions, mainly central European Russia; constant and sizable rural-to-urban movement; and heavy movement into the country's largest cities and republic and oblast centers), as well as the three main migrational problems (stabilization of the rural population of central European Russia; acclimatization of new settlers in the eastern regions; and activization of the native inhabitants of Central Asia)."
Possible future USSR agricultural productivity, given a global warming scenario, is assessed on the basis of paleoclimatic reconstructions for optima of the Holocene and Mikulino interglacial, which may be analogs of the man-modified warm climate of the future. The calculations were made using a dynamic model of grain yields for 94 territorial units, for the most part coincident with the boundaries of oblasts. Three different indicators, which suggest that the warming trend of climate will be generally favorable for agriculture in the European USSR, are analyzed. The paper also provides insights into current spatial patterns of agricultural productivity. Translated by Larry Richardson, Glendale, CA 91202 from: Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, seriya geograficheskaya, 1990, No. 6, pp. 29-38.
The Ninth Congress of the Geographical Society of the USSR was held in Kazan', September 10-15, 1990, with the participation of 421 official delegates and 304 guests. Since the 62 papers and the 393 shorter communications had been published in advance in six volumes available to the participants, the plenary sessions and roundtables were devoted to discussions of various aspects of the main focus, the impact of human activities on the environment and the field of geoecology. Insufficient attention has been paid to interrelations of society and nature. Blunders by ministries and agencies of the government organized by branches of the economy have resulted in many disastrous consequences. Research in geoecology, improved methodology, mapping, training of personnel, wider diffusion of knowledge, better incorporation into government programs, and further personal contacts among geographers and geoecologists of all types and in all regions are needed. Translated and slightly condensed by Chauncy D. Harris, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637-1583 from: Izvestiya Vsesoyuznogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, 1990, No. 5.
The second of two articles devoted to spatial and temporal trends in economic development and levels of living within the USSR examines patterns in consumption and investment (national income used) at the union republic level, personal services expenditures (oblast and economic regional level), and level of living (small sample of indicators, republic level). Economic and political issues surrounding the current debate over interrepublican income transfers and commodity flows are discussed and limited parallels drawn between Soviet and global versions of restructuring.
