Proceedings of the International scientific and practical conference ―New York Global Science Conference 2026‖ (May 18-20, 2026) / Publisher website: www.naukainfo.com. – New York, USA, 2026. - 322 p.

122 contemporary methodological approaches involve the integration of biophysical and socio-economic assessment components, as well as consideration of the hierarchical organization of ecosystem processes that underpin the provision of these services. Ecosystems are regarded not only as sources of natural resources but, more importantly, as complex systems whose functioning ensures the maintenance of key biospheric processes—climate regulation, biogeochemical cycling, and the preservation of the stability of both natural and anthropogenically transformed landscapes. Accordingly, disturbances in ecosystem structure and functioning inevitably lead to disruptions in the provision of ecosystem services, directly affecting both the quality of human life and the level of environmental safety. The assessment of ecosystem services becomes particularly important in territories contaminated by radionuclides as a result of the Chornobyl disaster, since the application of standard methodological approaches does not fully capture the specific features of long-term radiation impacts on ecosystem structure, functioning, and resilience. The influence of radioactive contamination on ecosystem services is differentiated depending on their category. In particular, provisioning services related to agricultural production may be significantly restricted or entirely lost due to exceedance of permissible radionuclide concentrations in products. At the same time, regulatory ecosystem functions such as soil self-purification, sorption capacity, and soil transformation processes become critically important for the long-term stabilization of contaminated landscapes and the minimization of environmental risks. Therefore, further development of methodological approaches to ecosystem service assessment in Ukraine requires deeper integration of international classification systems with radioecological indicators that can adequately reflect the degree of restriction or degradation of ecosystem functions. Consequently, future research is of fundamental importance for substantiating strategies for restoration and sustainable management of natural ecosystems in radioactively contaminated territories. A key direction of such research is the development of a specialized set of radioecological and functional indicators that will enable an objective and