Forest Area Key Facts &

Carbon Emissions
Russia’s Boreal Forests from Deforestation

Forest location and brief description

Russia is home to more than one-fifth of the world’s forest areas
(approximately 763.5 million hectares). The Russian landscape is highly
diverse, including polar deserts, arctic and sub-arctic tundra, boreal and
semi-tundra larch forests, boreal and temperate coniferous forests, temperate
broadleaf and mixed forests, forest-steppe and steppe (temperate grasslands,
savannahs, and shrub-lands), semi-deserts and deserts.

Russian boreal forests (known in Russia as the taiga) represent the largest
forested region on Earth (approximately 12 million km2), larger than the
Amazon. These forests have relatively few tree species, and are composed
mainly of birch, pine, spruce, fir, with some deciduous species. Mixed in
among the forests are bogs, fens, marshes, shallow lakes, rivers and wetlands,
which hold vast amounts of water. They contain more than 55 per cent of the
world’s conifers, and 11 per cent of the world’s biomass.

Unique qualities of forest area

Russia’s boreal region includes several important Global 200 ecoregions - a
science-based global ranking of the Earth’s most biologically outstanding
habitats. Among these is the Eastern-Siberian Taiga, which contains the
largest expanse of untouched boreal forest in the world. Russia’s largest
populations of brown bear, moose, wolf, red fox, reindeer, and wolverine
can be found in this region. Bird species include: the Golden eagle, Black-
billed capercaillie, Siberian Spruce grouse, Siberian accentor, Great
gray owl, and Naumann’s thrush. Russia’s forests are also home to the
Siberian tiger and Far Eastern leopard.

Many indigenous and local people in Russia’s less developed regions

rely heavily on the boreal forest for timber harvesting, and non-timber
forest product collection (e.g. berries, mushrooms, medicinal plants),
traditional agriculture (e.g. grazing, hay making), and hunting. Almost all
of the 45 officially registered indigenous nationalities depend on the use
of forest and other wild natural resources (tundra, marine, freshwater)
for their subsistence. Forests are also significant for the maintenance of • Holding almost 50% of the
indigenous people’s traditions (religious customs, and life style). northern hemisphere’s terrestrial
Many indigenous people live near protected carbon, Russia’s natural forest
areas or within them. resources play a vital role in
regulating climate change.

• The massive forest fires in Siberia

in 2003 are said to have released
as much greenhouse gas into
the atmosphere as the total EU
reduction commitment under the
Kyoto protocol.
© WWF-Canon / Vladimir FILONOV

• If all the methane currently stored

in the permafrost of the western
Siberian peat bog were released,
its warming effect would equal
to 73 years of current man-made
CO2 emissions.
 Climate Control
Boreal forests play a vital role in the global carbon cycle and
in regulating climate change, acting as giant storehouses of
carbon emissions. In fact, the world’s circumpolar boreal forests
and peat-lands are reported to contain as much as five times
the carbon of the world’s temperate forests, and almost double
the carbon in tropical forests.

Studies suggest that Russia holds almost 50 per cent of the

Northern Hemisphere’s terrestrial carbon. Russian forests
contain approximately 56.3 Pg (petagrams, or billion tonnes)
of carbon in vegetation, and approximately 135.7 Pg C in soil
organic matter. About 60 per cent of this carbon is locked in
peat that is currently frozen within permafrost. threatening Russian forests. Production of pulp in
Europe relies to a significant extent on timber from
Source: Wood’s Hole Research Center Russia and the Baltic states.

Illegal felling is increasing, and now accounts for 30 per

cent of the total felling volume (in some regions up to
70 per cent). Russia loses approximately one billion US
dollars per year due to illegal logging and trade, which
© WWF-Canon / Hartmut JUNGIUS

in turn restricts money available for good harvesting

practices, communities and development.

Forest fires are also a major threat to the region. The

average annual forest loss due to fire is approximately
one to three million hectares, with larger (and rarer)
catastrophic fires averaging 13-14 million hectares in
damage. Siberian forests are particularly at risk. Fires
in Siberian forests, often started illegally and
deliberately by rogue timber firms planning to sell
Deforestation data cheap lumber to China, have increased tenfold in the
Recent estimates of rates of deforestation in Russia’s last 20 years. During Europe’s 2003 heat wave, 22
forests are as high as 20,000 km2 annually, comparable million hectares of spruce, larch, fir, pine, and oak were
to the annual rate of forest clearing in the Brazilian affected by fires.
Amazon Basin.

In contrast to the central and southern boreal regions, Protection status

lands in Siberia and the Russian Far East have little The 1995 Russian federal law defines protected
development due to permafrost and cold. Almost 90 areas as “areas of land and water surface and the
per cent of tundra and up to 70-75 per cent of taiga in air space above them, where natural complexes and
these regions remain close to their natural states. objects of special nature conservation, scientific,
cultural, aesthetic, and recreational importance are
Key threats located. These areas are fully or partly withdrawn from
Russia’s boreal zone is partly fragmented by roads, rail, economic use on the decision of state authorities, and
and infrastructure developments. Coal mining, logging, a special regime of protection is established for them”.
pollution, oil and gas development all pose significant Protected areas (both federal and regional) cover
threats to parts of the region. around 190 million hectares, or about 11 per cent of
the whole territory of Russia.
The main pressure on Russian forests is caused by
timber extraction and other forestry activities. Demand The Russian national protected area system includes:
for resources in world markets, such as timber in China • Approximately 100 zapovedniks – strict nature
and Southeast Asia, and pulp in Europe, is increasingly reserves meeting the category 1 criteria of the IUCN

In June 2007, two new national parks were declared in one of

the most biologically diverse provinces in Russia’s Far East, the
Primorsky Province. The newly created Udege Legenda National
Park and the Zov Tigra National Park will span 88,600 hectares,
and 82,152 hectares respectively, helping to protect the home of
New National Parks in Russia’s Far East the endangered Siberian, or Amur, tiger and other wildlife species,
 Russia’s Protected Areas – percentage of territory

classification of protected areas – covering about 330,000 km2 (about 1.4

per cent of the country’s total area);
• 36 national parks, totaling over 6.8 million hectares;
• 69 federal zakazniks, or wildlife refuges;
• more than 3,000 regional zakazniks;
• more than 10,000 nature monuments, including 28 of federal importance;
• more than 40 regional nature parks; and,
• hundreds of other protected areas ranging from a forested area in the
middle of Moscow to large tracts of Siberia and the Arctic. These range in
size from 2.31 km2 (570 acres) to 4,692 km2 (1,876.8 mile2). The state plans
to create 15 new areas by 2010.

Carbon emissions from deforestation

At present, Russia is ranked as the 6th largest emitter of greenhouse gas
emissions in the world, with 2.8 per cent of total emissions resulting from
land-use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). The massive forest fires
in Siberia in 2003 are said to have released as much greenhouse gas into the
atmosphere as the total EU reduction commitment under the Kyoto protocol.

Massive carbon storehouse at risk

Thawing permafrost could also potentially increase emissions as a huge

© WWF-Canon / Vladimir FILONOV

amount of carbon stored in Russia’s forests is locked in peat that is
currently frozen within the permafrost. Thinning of the permafrost can
trigger the release of CO2 and methane, another greenhouse gas 20 times
as potent as CO2.

Already, scientists have reported the world’s largest frozen peat bog in
western Siberia, is melting. One of nature’s best defenses against climate
change, the sudden melting of this million square kilometer bog (the size
of France and Germany combined), could unleash billions of tonnes of
methane into the atmosphere.

The permafrost of the west Siberian peat bog alone

is reported to contain 70 billion
tonnes of methane,

including brown and black bears, 30 species of endangered plants and extensive Korean
pine forests.
© WWF/Kevin SCHAFER

For more information visit: http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/successes/

index.cfm?uNewsID=106820
© WWF-Canon/Hartmut JUNGIUS

a quarter of all the methane stored on the land surface Sources/References

worldwide. If all of it were released, its warming effect 1. www.borealforest.org , a project of the Faculty of Forestry and the Forest Environment,
would equate to 73 years of current man-made CO2 Lakehead University, Canada.
emissions. 2. Woods Hole Research Center, http://whrc.org/russia/russias_importance/natural_system.
htm
WWF Forest Activities 3. NationalGeographic.com
WWF Russia’s Forest Programme works to safeguard 4. WWF and IUCN, Russia Case Study: Management Effectiveness Assessment of Protected
the country’s forests through: Areas Using WWF’s RAPPAM Methodology, 2003.
• supporting the development of a network of 5. www.panda.org/forests
protected forest areas; 6. Information provided by WWF Russia, June 2007.
• introducing sustainable forestry management models 7. The Guardian, Huge rise in Siberian forest fires puts planet at risk, scientists warn, 31 May
in the Model Forests network; 2005.
• promoting responsible business strategies, ecological 8. Telegraph, UK. Siberian forest fires due to climate change. 1 August 2007
policies and FSC voluntary certification among 9. Year 2000 data from CAIT, Climate Analysis Indicators Tool version 3.0 (Washington, DC:
Russian timber producing companies; World Resources Institute, 2006), available at http://cait.wri.org.
• curbing illegal logging and timber trade; and 10. Pearce, Fred, Climate warning as Siberia melts, New Scientist, 11 August 2005.
• helping to formulate national forest policy. 11. Monbiot, George, Environmental Feedback, http://www.newleftreview.org/
?page=article&view=2672

Notes
Emission data for Russia was sourced from CAIT, Climate Analysis Indicators Tool version 3.0
(Washington, DC: World Resources Institute, 2006). This is based on year 2000 data and total
greenhouse gas emissions which include estimates of LULUCF activity. Note that net emissions
associated with LULUCF, particularly those associated with deforestation, are uncertain.

For further information, please visit:

http://www.wwf.ru/forests/eng/