Assessment of risks and socio-environmental impacts of technical and technological development: comprehensive analysis of soil degradation and labor market transformation

Анотація

The article examines the impact of technological development on the formation of socio-environmental risks in the context of the transformation of natural and human capital. The problem of the dual effect of technological progress is highlighted, as it simultaneously ensures productivity growth and production intensification while generating long-term environmental and socio-economic imbalances. The expediency of considering technological changes as a systemic process encompassing interconnected transformations in natural resource use and labor organization is substantiated. The processes of soil degradation resulting from agricultural intensification are analyzed. It is determined that mechanical pressure, chemicalization, and disruption of soil structure lead to dehumification, a decline in biological activity, and loss of fertility, posing long-term risks to the depletion of natural capital. It is shown that the economic nature of these processes is associated with the underestimation of the value of natural resources and the dominance of short-term economic priorities. In the socio-economic dimension, the transformation of the labor market is driven by automation and digitalization. It is established that technological changes lead to the displacement of routine functions, transformation of job content, and the emergence of new skill requirements, accompanied by labor market polarization, shrinking of the middle segment, and increasing income inequality. It is substantiated that the pace of technological change exceeds the labor market’s adaptive capacity, resulting in structural imbalances. The interconnection between soil degradation and labor market transformation is demonstrated through different manifestations of a single process of production intensification, driven by the maximization of efficiency without consideration of long-term development constraints. A conceptual approach to their integrated analysis as elements of a unified system of socio-environmental risks is proposed, enabling the overcoming of the fragmentation in existing studies. Keywords: technological development, production intensification, soil degradation, labor market, automation, socio-environmental risks, human capital, natural capital, labor market polarization.

Класифікація

Ідентифікатори

Схожі роботи