Russia

Russia is home to more than one-fifth of the world’s forest areas. According to the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 and official Rosleskhoz data, Russia, also officially known as the Russian Federation (RF), has around 11.47 million km2 of forest land and other wooded land, which constitutes 49.8% of the total land area of Russia. The area of the forest land actually covered by forests is 7,95 million km2 (http://static.government.ru). Around 33.5% of the total forested area is composed of primary forests, 64.1% of otherwise naturally regenerated forests, and the remaining 2.4% of planted forest. 100% of the Russian forest land is publicly owned.

The Russian landscape is highly diverse, including polar deserts, arctic and sub-arctic tundra, boreal and semi-tundra larch forests, boreal and temperate coniferous forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, forest-steppe and steppe (temperate grasslands, savannahs, and shrub-lands), semi-deserts and deserts.

With 7,7 million km², Russian boreal forests (also known in Russia as the taiga) represent 67% of Russia’s total forest land (Forest of the World and Russia, 2001) and is the largest forested region on Earth (larger than the Amazon). These forests have relatively few tree species, and are composed mainly of birch, pine, spruce, and fir, along with some other deciduous species. Mixed-in among the forests are bogs, fens, marshes, shallow lakes, rivers and wetlands, which hold vast amounts of water. These forests contain more than 55% of the world’s conifers, and 11% of the world’s biomass. (WWF)

Russia’s boreal region also includes several important eco-regions. Among these is the Eastern-Siberian Taiga, which contains the largest expanse of untouched boreal forest in the world. Russia’s largest populations of brown bear, moose, wolf, red fox, reindeer, and wolverine can also be found in this region.

Many indigenous and local people in Russia’s less developed regions rely heavily on the forest for timber harvesting, and non-timber forest product collection (e.g. berries, mushrooms, medicinal plants), traditional agriculture (e.g. grazing, hay making), and hunting. Almost all of the 45 officially registered indigenous nationalities depend on the use of forest and other wild natural resources (tundra, marine, freshwater) for their subsistence.

According to the FAO, the forested area has been growing slightly, by 0.03% per year, mainly due to natural expansion, over the last 25 years. The main pressure on Russian forests is caused by timber extraction and other forestry activities. Demand for resources in world markets, such as timber in China and Southeast Asia, and pulp in Europe, is increasingly threatening Russian forests. Forest fires are also a major threat to the region. The forest loss due to fire ranges from one to three million hectares per year. Siberian forests are particularly at risk. (WWF Russia).

Russia has more than 12,000 national, regional, and local protected areas, covering 200 million hectares or 11.9% of the country. Federally-managed protected areas, including 102 strict nature reserves (zapovedniks), 47 national parks, 70 federal sanctuaries or wildlife refuges (zakazniks) and 28 reserved sites (natural monuments), cover 66 million hectares or about 3.9% of the country’s territory. (Transparent world, 2014). In addition to these protected areas, Russia has over 281 million hectares of protected forest (such as water protection zones, cedar nuts using zones etc.), 268 million hectares of reserve forest located in economically inaccessible territories, and many protected forest sites within exploitable forest. The share of protected forests is fluctuating from 3 to 60%, depending on the particular region and/or forest management unit. All of these categories of forests have different protection regimes and clear cutting is not allowed in most of them.

According to FEDSTAT data, the industry of Russia produced in 2017 about 212 million m³ of logs, which was primarily used by the local industry while about 19,4 million m³ (10%) of the logs were exported directly. Russia is still one of the world’s largest exporters of softwood. More than half of the sawnwood, veneer and plywood produced in Russia is exported.

The Russian Federation is also one of the largest producers and exporters of industrial roundwood in the world, and the country also exports significant volumes of sawnwood, plywood and pulp and paper. While the Russian State (Government) is the owner of forest lands and forest resources (timber and non-timber), the Russian forest industry is almost completely privatized.

China has rapidly emerged as the world’s largest importer of wood products, with Russia by far its most important supplier. While China’s sawnwood imports from Russia raised rapidly [and keep increasing], Russia has remained primarily [though decreasingly] a roundwood exporter to China, especially in the form of coniferous logs. Two major drivers were behind the emergence of Russia as China’s most important wood supply source: price and the similarity of species used. (WWF, 2007)

Although forests occupy over half of the land of the country, the economic role of the forestry sector for Russia is limited. The share of the forest sector in the GDP (gross domestic product) is only 1.3%, in industrial production, 3.7%; in employment, 1%; and in export, revenue 2.4%. (FAO, 2012).

Most common production species in Russia are: (FAO, 2012)

Coniferous:

• Pine (Pinus spp.)
• Spruce (Picea spp.)
• Fir (Abies nephrolippis)
• Larch (Larix spp.)
• Siberian pine (Pinus siberica – often mis-translated as Siberian cedar)

Deciduous:

• Oak (Quercus spp.)
• Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• Birch (Betula spp.)
• Aspen (Populus tremula)
• Ash (Fraxinus spp.)
• Elm (Ulmus spp.)
• Linden (Tilia spp.)

Radioactive contamination

As a result of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, 5,6 million hectares of land including 1 million hectares of forest have experienced massive radioactive contamination, in different gradations (or zones), located in the immediate vicinity and stretching approximately 2 km West of the nuclear power plant. These were mainly single-crop plantings of Scotch pine (Pinus silvestris). Because of the very long half-life of the elements concerned, this situation will continue for the foreseeable future. There is no realistic means of cleaning the area. Indeed, forests are probably one of the best ways of ‘storing’ the radioactive contamination, to minimize further damage. A small area (exclusion zone) is completely inaccessible except to those carrying out carefully monitored and protected scientific research, and much larger areas have controlled access. Local authorities have acquired expertise and developed strategies for handling the situation. All trees in an area of forest most exposed to radiation were cut down and buried.

Government decree #1008 dd. 25.12.1992 provides that all uses of forest resources including timber harvesting, are prohibited in the area of radioactive contamination. It also regulates issues related with radioactivity control and monitoring. The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters is responsible for these functions.

• FAO (2012) The Russian Federation Forest Sector – Outlook study to 2030
• FAOSTAT
• FEDSTAT
• Fordaq - timber trade network
• Forest of the World and Russia (V.Strakhov, A. Pisarenko, V. Borisov, 2001)
• Global Forest Resources Assessment (FAO, 2015) - Updated every 5 years
• ITC (International Trade Centre) calculations based on UN Comtrade statistics
• Ministry of natural resources of RF
• The Red Forest
• Transparent world 2014
• WhatWood – news and analytics on the Russian forest industry 
• World Port Source - Map of ports in Russia with container liner service.
• WWF Russia
• WWF (2007) The Russian-Chinese timber trade: Export, Supply chains, Consumption, and Illegal logging
• WWF (2009) National Protected Areas of the Russian Federation