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Russian forests and climate change
Contents
Authors................................................................................................................................ 7
Acknowledgements............................................................................................................9
Executive summary ........................................................................................................... 11
1. Introduction....................................................................................................................13
Riccardo Valentini, Pekka Leskinen, Pieter Johannes Verkerk, Gert-Jan Nabuurs,
George Safonov and Elena Kulikova
2. State of Russian forests and forestry............................................................................17
Dmitry Zamolodchikov, Anatoly Shvidenko, Sergey Bartalev, Elena Kulikova,
Alexander Held, Riccardo Valentini and Marcus Lindner
2.1 Major characteristics of Russian forests..........................................................17
2.2 Natural forest disturbances.............................................................................. 21
2.3 Forest governance and use..............................................................................26
2.4 Ecosystem functions and services of Russia’s forests....................................28
2.5 Key challenges in forest resource management..............................................35
2.6 Key messages.................................................................................................... 38
3. Climate change in Russia – past, present and future................................................. 45
Riccardo Valentini, Dmitry Zamolodchikov, Christopher Reyer, Sergio Noce,
Monia Santini and Marcus Lindner
3.1 Observed changes of Russian climate in recent decades.............................. 45
3.2 Climate change scenarios................................................................................48
3.3 Key messages.....................................................................................................51
4. Climate change and Russian forests: impacts, vulnerability and adaptation needs... 53
Christopher Reyer, Marcus Lindner, Dmitry Zamolodchikov, Anatoly Shvidenko,
Martin Gutsch and Sergey Bartalev
4.1 Observed impacts of climate change...............................................................53
4.2 Projected impacts.............................................................................................56
4.3 Vulnerability assessment................................................................................. 61
4.4 Adaptation needs............................................................................................. 64
4.5 Key messages....................................................................................................67
5. Climate-Smart Forestry in Russia and potential climate change mitigation
benefits.............................................................................................................................. 73
Bas Lerink, Mariana Hassegawa, Alexander Kryshen, Anton Kovalev, Eldar Kurbanov,
Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Sergei Moshnikov and Pieter Johannes Verkerk
5.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 73
5.2 Approach and general scenario assumptions.................................................74
5.3 Case study: Republic of Karelia.......................................................................78
5.4 Case study: Republic of Mari El.......................................................................84
5.5 Case study: Angara macro-district (Krasnoyarsk kray).................................. 91
5.6 Concluding remarks, discussion and implications....................................... 98
5.7 Key messages...................................................................................................101
6. The role of the bioeconomy in climate change mitigation in Russia..................... 105
Pekka Leskinen, Jo Van Brusselen, Mariana Hassegawa, Alexander Alekseev,
Natalia Lukina, Olga Rakitova, George Safonov, Elena Kulikova and Mikhail Safonov
6.1 Introduction.................................................................................................... 105
6.2 The bioeconomy concept in Russia...............................................................106
6.3 The link between bioeconomy and climate change mitigation.................. 107
6.4 State of Russian forest industry and potential for bioeconomy................... 111
6.5 Sectoral development and outlook................................................................. 113
6.6 Summary and conclusions: Opportunities and challenges for a
bioeconomy in Russia.....................................................................................123
6.7 Key messages...................................................................................................125
7. Conclusions.................................................................................................................. 131
Pekka Leskinen, Jo Van Brusselen, Marcus Lindner, Gert-Jan Nabuurs,
Pieter Johannes Verkerk, Natalia Lukina, Sergey Bartalev and Elena Kulikova
7.1 Forest resources............................................................................................... 131
7.2 Climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation....................................132
7.3 Forest management........................................................................................ 133
7.4 Enabling environment for a bioeconomy......................................................134
7.5 Holistic view.................................................................................................... 135
7.6 Key messages and next steps ........................................................................ 136
