AN ATLAS OF RUSSIA’S INTACT FOREST LANDSCAPES (Aksenov et al.,
Moscow: 2002, 186 pp.) has just been published. It is based on the work of Russia’s
Forest Watch (RFW) in 1999-2002, analyses of Russia’s intact native forest ecosystems.
RFW unites a number of Russian nature conservation NGO’s (including GreenPeace
of Russia, the Socio-Ecological Union and the Biodiversity Conservation Center)
as well as scientific research establishments (International Forest Institute,
“ScanEx”). The parties were united by a desire to provide objective and detailed
data on the condition of Russian forests. The lack of this information in the
past has hindered sustainable social and economic development planning in Russia.
Timber companies do not realize that there remain only a few forests suitable
for cutting given the present forestry system. The local authorities are unable
to plan rational use of natural resources so that different models of development
can be implemented.
This is the first time large (50,000 hectares) intact forest landscapes within Russia’s forest zone were presented on maps, with 1:1500000 cm and 1:3000000 cm scales (from 15 to 30 km: 1 cm). An intact forest landscape is a landscape no smaller than 50,0000 hectares in the forest zone that is whole and natural, that has no settlements or operating transport communication lines within its borders, that has been entirely untouched by clear or selective cuttings or other anthropogenic impact for the last 60 years, that has been formed by natural ecosystems left undisturbed. Around 11,000 medium- and high- resolution images were done from the Russian satellite Resurs-O1 and the American satellites Landsat-7 and TERRA to create the maps. Information received from the satellites was verified on the ground at 173 sites.
Investigations were done for dense forests — the most attractive for industrial timber fellings, where extensive mining (oil, diamonds, gold) is also done. Tundra, forest-tundra, steppe and desert areas were left out of the investigation. Under forest landscapes, the investigators considered all forested area ecosystems, including mashes, mountain ridges, rivers and reservoirs.
Fragmentation and disturbance of ecosystems in European Russia, in southern Siberia and the Russian Far East result mainly from industrial timber cuttings and fires associated with timber felling, agriculture and road construction. In western and northeastern Siberia and in the Far East the damage is done by mineral extraction, including prospecting and road construction, as well as by large forest fires due to anthropogenic activities.
Some 289 million hectares (26 percent of Russia’s forest zone) remain large, intact forest landscapes (not including open woodlands and forests of shrubs and dwarf trees). Three fourths of the intact forest landscapes are intact forests. Approximately 5 percent of the intact forest landscapes are in areas with special protection at the federal level. Eastern Siberia possesses 39 % of Russia’s intact forest landscapes (or 34% of intact forests); the Far East — 32% (21%); western Siberia — 25% (23%); European Russia only 9% (12%).
Nearly half of Russia’s intact forest landscapes (48%)
are in five regions of Siberia: the Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya), the
Evenk Autonomous Area, Krasnoyarsk Kray, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area and
the Irkutsk Region. More than 50 % of seven regions consists of intact forest
landscapes: the Nenets Autonomous Area (100%), the Koryak Autonomous Area (88%),
the Kamchatka Region (85%), the Republic of Altay (63%), the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous
Area (62 %), the Evenkia Autonomous Area (61%), and the Republic of Tuva (5%).
There are no intact forest landscapes at all in 49 of Russia’s 89 regions.
The Atlas materials can be used to plan timber and wood felling; importers
of Russian timber can use it for buying arrangements. To see these atlas
materials go to: http://www.forest.ru/eng/publications/intact/.
