A Finnish forestry expert outlines the key principles of the Russian government's forestry development program that will help Russia prepare for climate change. The forestry sector is not yet ready to meet the challenges associated with this. The expert points out the problems to be solved and refers to the experience of Northern Europe.
In Russia, as in the rest of the world, the impact of climate change on various sectors of the economy is being actively discussed. In the early 2000s, the forest industry was developed with the support of forest certification. Today, the development of the forest industry in Russia is associated with attempts to curb climate change.
Building on the Paris Climate Agreement, in December 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation issued a decree launching a state program for the development of the forest industry and regional forest programs that will help prepare for climate change.
About 40 specialists take part in the program for the development of the forest industry. The human impact on climate is discussed; an important role is played by combating forest fires and how deforestation and measures that promote forest growth affect carbon balance.
The project involves about 30 regions of Russia. The intensive model of forestry, approved by the Federal Forestry Agency in 2015, has created opportunities for the development of the forestry industry at the legislative level.
A more efficient way of forestry, developed in the Nordic countries, has become possible to apply in test areas from northwestern Russia to western Siberia. According to the Russian office of the World Wildlife Fund, the selection of pilot areas takes into account the wishes of the local forest industry, so that development goes in the most reasonable direction.
According to a Finnish timber harvesting company, about 10% of its leased area in northwest Russia has been converted to Scandinavian forestry. On the other hand, the project of the Karelian Republic on preparing for climate change presents a plan to create forest resources from mixed trees and trees of different ages.
Participants in the forest development program believe that timely action is essential to help forests withstand hurricanes, snowfalls and other events that threaten tree health. A forest that grows well is better at containing climate change, and the closer a tree is to where it is used, the better ecologically.
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At a conference held in Moscow in March with the participation of experts, forest industry officials and representatives of enterprises, the following conclusion was reached: the Russian forest sector is not yet ready to meet the challenges of climate change. The main problem is the financing required to quickly create a new forest at the site of the felling.
Landmarks in such cases are usually foreign forestry companies, which focus on both plantation and road construction. This will keep the wood closer to where it is used, and vast forest areas a little further away will be able to avoid logging.
If the average temperature rises, the forest-steppe can spread to the border with Finland. A softer estimate is that the coniferous forest zone in the northwest will rise 150 kilometers north of its current position, and the Moscow region, which is 900 kilometers southeast of Helsinki, will be in the southern coniferous forest zone. From the point of view of the local timber industry, softwood is an important part of the demand for raw materials.
Russians are following the discussion in Scandinavia about the consequences of climate change, since the region is similar to Russia. General issues on the topic of climate change are the extension of the growth period, an increase in precipitation, the spread of insect pests, damage to a fast-growing forest from strong winds, the development of logging technologies, and a comparison of the adaptation of pine and spruce to changed conditions.
Russian experts reported on changes in the forest over the past 20 years, recorded by statistics.
Where clear-cut areas have shrunk, areas destroyed by forest fires have increased. In total, the forest area has decreased by 55 million hectares, which is two of Finland's forest areas. Despite this, the importance of Russian forests is still high in terms of carbon balance, since their area is 40 times larger than that of Finland.
Thanks to its forests, by 2030 Russia plans to reduce the level of greenhouse gases to 70-75% of the 1990 level. By keeping the last untouched forest areas out of industrial use, the state is trying to create more efficient forestry.
Pasi Poikonen, expert at Joensuu Natural Resources Center