Intensive human economic activity has led to decrese in the natural resource potential of territories and qualitative changes in the natural environment surrounding a person: a violation of the spatial and functional structure of natural systems, a decrease in the biological diversity of flora and fauna, a deterioration in the quality of water and land resources, a decrease in the ecological and economic sustainability of technical and natural systems and the quality of human life. Ensuring the sustainable functioning and development of territories is possible due to the complex arrangement of the territory (scientific organisation of the territory). It is the optimisation of the land using structure that will restore disturbed ecosystems to standard values, increase biological diversity, environmental sustainability and economic efficiency of landscapes. One of the limiting factors in the implementation of this measure is the lack of an effective mechanism for assessing the effectiveness of investments in land development. All this indicates the need to develop proposals for the development of methodological approaches to assessing the environmental and economic efficiency of investments in land development, taking into account the shortcomings that we identified when analyzing existing approaches to assessing the effectiveness of investment projects of social significance. At the same time, it should be noted that ensuring sustainable development of territories is impossible with the existing nature-intensive concept of economic development. A new approach to solving this problem is needed, which should:
• be based on a deep study of socio-economic and environmental problems, a retrospective analysis of the state of landscapes and a long-term forecast of the expected consequences of the impact of human activity on the state of individual components of the considered territory and the landscape as a whole;
• it aims to ensure the socio-economic and environmental safety of Russia.
The рurpose is to develop proposals for the development of a methodological approach to assessing the environmental and economic efficiency of investments in the integrated development of territories which are aimed at ensuring the socio-economic and environmental security of Russia.