Mythical "Forest Wealth" of Russia

December 1, 2004, Moscow. Today at a press conference at the Independent Press Centre Greenpeace Russia presented a unique map "Forest Landscapes of Russia". This is the first since the USSR times and so far the only map that presents the current state of forest resources in our country. According to the information available, an image of Russia as a country with immense forest resources is too optimistic.

No country in the world is able to organize effective use and protection of their forests without detailed information about the state of forest landscapes. The previous map ("Forest landscapes of the USSR") issued in 1990, was based on quite old materials and represented the situation of 25-30 years old.

A new map "Forest Landscapes of Russia" has combined four existing maps chosen so that to provide most up-to-date and detailed data. Several organizations took part in the work: Greenpeace Russia, Institute of Space Research RAS, Centre for Ecological Problems and Productivity of Forests RAS and Global Forest Watch.

First of all, the new map demonstrates that most valuable in the industry coniferous forests were preserved only in sparsely populated and difficult of access regions of the European North and Siberia. While in the most fertile forest lands spruce and pine are replaced by the second growth, birch and aspen forests, which can't be used effectively in the forest industry. At present the territory with the second deciduous growth amounts to 31% of the total forest area in Russia.

The main reason of mass forest degradation is the extensive forest use that prevailed in our country in the last century. This includes large-scaled clear cutting, a low quality of reforestation works and not sufficient care about saplings.

"It's evident that potentialities of extensive logging in Russia are almost exhausted. - says Alexey Yaroshenko, Greenpeace Russia forest campaign coordinator. - Almost all suitable for logging forests are developed. The further growth of logging volumes of coniferous forests without considerable improvement of the forestry quality is environmentally dangerous and it will lead to further degradation of forest resources."

"To enable the forest industry to develop, the government has to pay much more attention to the forestry", - says Mr. Yaroshenko.

"The presented map is another evidence of how significant "the human trace" in Russian forests is. It presents not only territories, where economic activities caused the replacement of coniferous species by deciduous ones, but also vast areas, where forests are totally destroyed. Such deforested territories take about 15% of "potentially forested" landscapes of Russia.