?
Экосистемные услуги и пространственное распределение защитных лесов Российской Федерации
Based on the materials of the State Forest Register, an analysis of the area and spatial distribution of protective forests’ dynamics in Russian Federation was carried out. The total area of protective forests in 2020 was 284.61 × 106 ha, with 165.00 × 106 ha (58.0%) covered in forests, 22.62 × 106 ha (7.9%) of land not covered by trees and 96.99 × 106 ha (34.1%) – of non-forest lands. An increase in the areas of protective forests in Russia is characteristic for the post-Soviet period: from 109.39 × 106 hectares of forested lands and 174.83 × 106 hectares in total in 1993 to modern values (growth by 50.8% and 62.8%, respectively). The share of protective forests in the total area of forested lands in the regions varies from 7% (Magadan Region) to 100%. A 100% share of protective forests is observed in all subjects of the Southern and Northern Caucasus Federal Districts, a number of subjects of the Central and Volga Federal Districts, as well as in the Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Districts. The shares of the protective forests’ area of the total area of the Russian Federation’s subject vary from 0.2% (Republic of Kalmykia) to 37.1% (Moscow Region). Small values of the protective forests’ share are noted in the Republic of Kalmykia (0.2%), Astrakhan Region (1.9%), Rostov Region. (2.1%), Volgograd Region. (4.1%), Orenburg Region. (3.6%), Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District (3.7%), Amur Region. (4.8%), Magadan Region. (2.5%). The area of protective forests per capita varies in different subjects of Russian Federation from 0.03 ha (Stavropol Territory) to 96.9 ha (Chukotka Autonomous District). Low values of the indicator are typical for all subjects of the southern part of the European part of Russia, to the south of the line encompassing Bryansk Region, Moscow Region, Yaroslavl Region, Kostroma Region, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Republic of Mari El, Republic of Udmurtia and Perm Region. Besides, low values of the indicator apply to the regions of the south of Western Siberia from the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions to the Novokuznetsk Region. The protective forests in Russia mainly perform water protection and anti-erosion functions. A number of trends in Russia’s development require the strengthening of such ecosystem services’ supply as the protection of atmospheric air and the improvement of recreation conditions. It should be recognized that it is necessary to further expand the area of protective forests at the expense of operational ones, and that there is a potential for this in a number of regions, as well as to change the categories of protection to more relevant for modern conditions.