Russia

RUSSIA

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Russia has more forests than any other country on the planet. In total Russia's forests cover over one thousand million hectares, or 22% of the world's forest cover, an area larger than the continental USA.
Greenpeace Russia is campaigning to protect Russia's globally important forest areas through direct action, lobbying, the introduction and advocation of the world's most forward-looking forest practices and through World Heritage Listing. In the last three years, Greenpeace has been most active in its efforts to stop destructive logging practices in the

Komi Forests of North western Russia.
The Green Belt of Fennoscandia.
Bikin Valley in the Russian Far East.

Most of these forests are conifers (larch, spruce and pine), called "taiga" in Russian, with birch as the major hardwood species.
The Soviet central command economy has worked to rapidly industrialise the forest sector, and many forests have been decimated by clearcutting and clearing for agriculture. However, ecological considerations in forest management have been part of forest planning in Russia throughout this century, and have a tradition that dates back to the 18th century.
Recently however, a law was passed which has weakened the forest legislation, and allows clearcuts of up to ten hectares in the least fragile of the protected forests, but demands proof that any cutting in these forests will increase the ecological and protective functions of the forest. Exploiting these loopholes is becoming a dangerous practice of logging companies,both foreign and domestic, in Russia.
Foreign investment and export of wood products is the major factor forcing the regrowth of the logging industry.