Conservation, economic planning and natural capital in early Soviet ecology

The advancements in ecological science and policies for conservation proposed by Soviet thinkers of the 1920s/1930s are the result of pioneering research on community ecology, i.e. the study of the relations between living organisms and between them and their non-living environment. The creation of large natural reserves for scientific research – the zapovedniki – put in practice an unprecedented nature conservation plan, based on the theoretical framework of community ecology and resulting in policy recommendations on what would be an ecologically acceptable economic planning programme. Bearing these elements in mind, the paper aims to unveil the intellectual contributions of early Soviet ecology, particularly in relation to their quest toward conservationist economic planning programmes and the associated notions of natural capital and ecosystem services.