Landscapes Forest and Global Change - ESA - Escola Superior ...

E. Volkova 2010. The regional analysis of forest management risks
603
The regional analysis of forest management risks
(by the example of Russian northern areas)
E. Volkova
Institute of Monitoring for Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS, Tomsk, Russia
Abstract
The northern taiga areas of Russia are rich of coniferous and softwood forests, but a number of
adverse natural-climatic and economic factors makes proper forest management difficult.
Additional efforts and measures are required to mitigate the impact of the harsh climatic
conditions on the forestry activities. The analysis of natural hazards and risks in forest
management, which would also take into account related social and economic consequences, is
a prerequisite condition for sustainable usage and preservation of forest potential in the northern
territories of Russia. In order to assess and estimate the risks in forest management, there was
conducted an integrated analysis based on weighted summation of such quantitative indices as
the amount of forest resources, ecological potential of woods, the degree of natural-climatic
hazards and other factors. Based on the calculation of the forest resource balance, the
quantitative estimation of valuable woods loss was made.
Keywords: forest management risks, natural-climatic hazards, economic consequences.
1. Introduction
The efficiency analysis of forest management practices usually includes the assessment of risks
caused by environmental and climatic conditions of the territory. The risk level also largely
depends on economic and geographical situation in the region: natural resource potential,
remoteness from woodworking centers, development of roads and transportation network,
availability of qualified manpower. Environmental conditions are a major factor determining
how fast or slow the territories are settled and cultivated, while social and economic situation
mainly influences the scale, forms and methods of using natural resources and economic
opportunities based on them.
The risks in forest management can be defined as the probability of full or partial destruction of
the region’s forest resource base resulting in considerable economic damage and caused both by
the action of natural processes and the influence of anthropogenic factors. Research in this
sphere is especially topical for those regions where full-scale economic activity and sustainable
forest exploitation are restrained by adverse environmental and climatic conditions, despite of
the considerable natural resource potential.
In this respect, the Tomsk region (Tomsk oblast, as an administrative unit) presents a classic
example of a northern Russian territory – with intensive usage of forest resources and a high
forest resource potential. The region possesses considerable forest resources – the forest fund
lands occupy 90.5% of the territory; of them the forest covered lands make up 67.3%. Total
amount of timber reserves of the territory is 2820.88 mln. m 3 . Over 70% of the forest fund is
formed by commercial forest, about 30% – by protected forest, of which approximately 6%
belong to specially protected natural territories. Approximately a half of the commercial forest
consists of coniferous woods, most valuable tree species here being pine-tree, fur-tree, silver fir
and cedar (Forest Plan 2008).
Forest Landscapes and Global Change-New Frontiers in Management, Conservation and Restoration. Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology
Working Group International Conference, September 21-27, 2010, Bragança, Portugal. J.C. Azevedo, M. Feliciano, J. Castro & M.A. Pinto (eds.)
2010, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.