19 The Russian boreal forests

The Russian boreal forests (figure 19.1) represent the largest forested region on Earth with more than 55% of the world’s conifers, 21-22% of the worlds growing stock, and 11% of the world’s live forest biomass. Over 887 million hectares of forest and woodland remain comprising 52% of the land area of Russia. This area would be equivalent to 95% of the entire United States, including Alaska. 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. To put these numbers in context, the globe’s circumpolar boreal forests and peatlands contain upwards of five times the carbon of the world’s temperate forests, and almost double the carbon in tropical forests. Our best estimate is that 60% of this carbon is locked in peat that is currently frozen within permafrost. All of these numbers indicate that Russia holds almost 50% of the Northern hemisphere’s terrestrial carbon (Goodale et.al., 2002). Russia’s natural forest resources play an integral role in global carbon cycling and climate change.

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20 Larch Forest in Krasnoyarsk

Many people picture Russia as a vast expanse of wild old growth forests, limitless and untouched by human exploitation. On the contrary, with the inability of the Russian government to maintain and enforce forest management practices, illegal logging and destructive resource extraction affect large areas (figure 20.1). Estimates of recent rates of deforestation are as high as 20,000 km² annually, which is comparable to the annual rate of forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon Basin. Fragmentation of forested regions by roads, rail, and infrastructure continues to increase, with no sound plan for maintaining large-scale wilderness and wildlife habitat. Fragmentation also increases fire susceptibility, further stressing the forests. As the demand for timber resources continues to rise in the markets of China and South East Asia, Russian forests will be increasingly threatened, and along with them the distinct and unique biodiversity that makes these forests invaluable.

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Figure 20.1 Clearcutting. Central Krasnoyarsk

he threats to Russia’s forests are not limited to logging and fire, though. With the continuing rise of global temperatures, localized melting of permafrost as well as the drying of the boreal micro-climates will release CO₂ and CH₄ to the atmosphere, adding to the earth’s greenhouse effect. The warming is likely to increase the number and size of disturbances, such as fire and invasive pest outbreaks, thereby creating a positive feedback to global warming. Research underway also suggests that climatic change could potentially disrupt Arctic and Sub-Arctic ecosystems and increase fresh-water flow to the Arctic sea. This increased flow could, in turn, drastically alter oceanic circulation and further perturb global climate regimes.

Changes in forest composition and dynamics have far reaching implications for indigenous cultures, livelihoods, industrialization and resource extraction, and wildlife. Our first step towards combating the potentially catastrophic effects of warming is to understand the role of Russian forests in global climate, now and throughout history. Then we will be better able to predict the effects of land-use decisions on both forests and climate.

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