FIRST GROUP FORESTS |
The Soviet timber industry has been widely criticized for its technical backwardness and inefficiency, but the huge tracts of primary forests that remain in Russia attest to another side of the system that merits closer study.
The First Group Forests of the Russian Federation constitute a vast network of legally protected and vitally important lands: water and soil protection zones, protection for steep slopes and easily damaged forests and municipal green areas as well as national parks and nature reserves and other valuable forests. Unlike the forestry laws of most Western countries that are written to allow for the single-use exploitation of timber resources, it is a system which admits the complex relationships that forest ecosystems have with the surrounding areas.
Although it has been recently weakened under pressure from timber interests and is facing further weakening, this system represents some of the most progressive forestry laws and policies of any country in the world, a system designed to guard against the degradation of the nation's natural areas and one which recognizes the integral role these areas play in the health of the country. It is perhaps one of the best examples of "sustainable" lawmaking, and one that should be emulated around the world in order to raise standards of forestry and forest protection.
Water protection zones are large, dwarfing the few meters allowed by Western standards. Beyond 10 kilometers from the source, the zones can extend from 100 meters for the smallest streams, to half a kilometer for the larger lakes and rivers and even up to 2 kilometers for some areas. Also taken into consideration are the important watershed areas, slopes, delicate regions where erosion would pose a danger without the protective forest system to prevent it.
However, the transition to a market economy is threatening this unique system, both due to the reduced ability of the central government to monitor and enforce existing environmental laws, and to national and international industry pressure to scrap them. Regional governments have repeatedly disregarded federal laws by allowing and even encouraging the destruction of these forests. The Federal Government, too, regularly bypasses the laws with exceptional orders to allow cutting.
Greenpeace Russia, in coordination with other Greenpeace offices and environmental groups, has undertaken a national and international campaign aimed at countering attempts by large-scale logging interests to weaken existing legislation. In addition to other conservation initiatives, Greenpeace Russia has begun a programme for a concerned citizens' network to monitor the forests.
