Abstract
The article presents an assessment of the modern landscape structure of the Western Kazakhstan region, based on the developed map of modern landscapes, made at a scale of 1:1 500,000. Based on the assessment, it was established that in the landscape structure of the entire region, the largest areas are occupied by landscape types of elevated stratal plains (17.8 % of the region’s area) and structural plateaus (14.6 %). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of landscape structure and assessment of dynamic trends in landscape transformation made it possible to establish that within the steppe and dry-steppe zones of the studied region, anthropogenically transformed natural-territorial complexes (NTC) take place in almost all identified types of landscapes and occupy 51.2 and 42.6 % of the NTC area in these zones. Within the natural complexes of semi-arid and arid natural zones, 29.9 and 23.2 % of their area are anthropogenically transformed. On the basis of the regional assessment of the modern landscape structure, environmental standards for anthropogenic loads and approaches to organizing a system of rational environmental management, aimed at the sustainable functioning of natural and economic systems, are developed.