Reforming Forest Policies and Management in Russia: Problems and Challenges

Forests. 2023. Vol. 14. No. 8. Article 1524.

Shvarts E., Karpachevskiy M., Shmatkov N., Baibar A.

Abstract: The future development of forest industries in Russia, besides the country’s geopolitical
issues, could be seriously undermined by the depletion of forest resources available under the current
model of forest management that mainly relies on clearcutting mature coniferous forests and leaving
these areas for natural regeneration. The introduction of a new model that prioritizes efficient forest
regeneration faces many problems on the ground. The efficiency of the use of funds allocated by
both governmental and private logging companies for forest regeneration and subsequent tending
of young stands should urgently be significantly increased. The government should also develop
pragmatic economic incentives to encourage logging concession holders to switch to the new model
and to address the problem of the spatial shift (demarginalization) of the country’s forest complex
from northern and eastern “green fields” to secondary mixed and southern taiga forests. Instead
of harvesting low-productivity northern taiga forests of European Russia and remote areas of Central
and Eastern Siberia, wood sourcing should be mainly concentrated in the immediate vicinity
of existing mills. Moreover, the development of “greenfield” projects in wilderness forest areas
that currently lack any kind of infrastructure should not be encouraged. The focus on the regions
with productive southern taiga, mixed and broadleaf forests, developed wood-processing infrastructure,
and high forest roads density could ensure the economically beneficial transition towards
resilient forestry.

Keywords: intensive and extensive forestry, spatial demarginalization of the Russian forest complex, intact primary forests, secondary forests, reforestation and afforestation, forest management intensity