The article presents resource and ecological approaches to regional development an example of the Kamchatka Territory. The economic assessment of the main natural resources of the region is made. The problems and perspectives of the regional development based on a resource and environmental approaches and the principles of environmental and economic balance are analyzed. The results of the resource and ecological approach to the development of Kamchatka Territory on the basis of natural resource potential assessment and directions of use are substantiated. It is shown that an ecological approach to the development of the Kamchatka Territory allows to get at the same results as when using the resource approach, but at the same time reduces the risk of ecosystem degradation, with high levels of vulnerability, are prerequisites for the conservation of natural capital and the transition to sustainable ecological and economically balanced development of the region. The possibility of a scientific synthesis of both approaches is substantiated.