Background - August 1, 2005
Even at temperatures of minus 50° Celsius in the winter, boreal coniferous forests flourish in Russia. In this vast forest of over 5000 square kilometres, the landscape changes from sparse tundra covered with stunted willows and birch in the north to dense coniferous and deciduous forests in the south.
The minerals and reserves of timber in eastern Siberia fuels
greedthroughout the world. Since the Russian economy is highly
dependent onforeign exchange, the country is engaged in a sell-out
of nature on anindescribable scale. Without decisive action within
the next few years,the intact natural landscapes of whole
ecological regions andvegetation zones may disappear.
Intact areas remain only in the most inaccessible
mountainlocations, while the unique eastern broad-leaf and mixed
coniferousforests have been almost totally transformed by
industrial loggingduring the last decade.
copyright 2002 Greenpeace/Global Forest Watch
Potentially intact ancient
forest, >50,000 heactares
Other forests
Sources: Intact forest
landscapes/forest cover, Greenpeace Russia and GFW 2001