Topic: russia

Coming Soon: Global Forest Watch 2.0

James Anderson — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:03:32 -0500

Welcome to the home of Global Forest Watch 2.0, a powerful near real-time forest monitoring system that unites satellite technology, data sharing, and human networks around the world to fight deforestation.

GFW 2.0 is currently under development, and will launch in late 2013.

Read more below, and email gfw2@wri.org to participate in the pilot testing period or be notified when GFW 2.0 launches. Please note that as we prepare for the launch, the original Global Forest Watch website has been redirected to this page.

Watch a Short Preview of Global Forest Watch 2.0 at the UN Forum on Forests 10, in Istanbul.

Watch the full version here

Speakers:

Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of Forestry, Indonesia
Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility
Tim Christophersen, Senior Program Officer, Forests and Climate Change, UNEP
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forests Initiative, World Resources Institute

Photo by David Gilbert

WHY FORESTS, WHY NOW?

Forests provide food jobs, raw materials, climate benefits and more. But without clear, up-to-date information, governments, companies and communities lack the tools to monitor and manage these resources.

We can track a company’s financial information daily, but information about forests is often years out of date.

Deforestation continues today in part because by the time satellite images are available, analyzed, and shared, the forest clearing is long done. The illegal loggers have moved on; cattle are already grazing amidst stumps; the oil palm plantation has been established. We simply find out too late.

New technologies can overcome these challenges

Fortunately, a convergence of technologies and human networks offers the ability to address these challenges for the first time:

Advances in satellite and remote sensing technology, including the launch of NASA’s Landsat 8 in early 2013, and new private systems, enable higher spatial resolution analysis and much more rapid updates of information. This has enabled the development of near-real-time forest cover change detection.
Brazilian partner IMAZON, is making its Amazon Alert System available through GFW 2.0, and also the DETER system which is innovating in detection of forest degradation. Brazil has seen a remarkable drop in deforestation in the Amazon of almost 80 percent partly due to improved linked to more effective use of satellite imagery.
Cloud computing and open source software can now be used to rapidly process and interpret large volumes of satellite data at low cost by utilizing clusters of servers scattered around the world. Google Earth Engine’s team is partnered with Global Forest Watch 2.0 to optimize easy access to cloud computing-based forest cover information.
High speed internet connectivity enables sending data and forest maps processed in North America, Europe, or Singapore to laptops and mobile phones in Jakarta, Kinshasa, Lima, Vladivostok, and other corners of the globe.
Smartphones are more common than ever and can be used by anyone in the field to download maps and satellite images, as well as upload GPS coordinates and photographs from the ground.
Crowdsourcing using simple web interfaces can empower thousands if not millions of people to gather and share information, participate in forest monitoring, and hold decision-makers accountable. • Social media outlets are creating a flat, networked world in which information travels fast, communities self-organize, and people get mobilized.

ABOUT GLOBAL FOREST WATCH 2.0

These enhanced technologies and social movements are the foundation for Global Forest Watch 2.0. GFW 2.0 will unite a near-real-time deforestation alert system, complementary satellite imagery and monitoring systems, WRI’s data-rich collection of maps, mobile technology, and a networked world to create never-before-possible transparency for faraway forests.

The platform is currently under development, and will be launched in late 2013.

This powerful new platform will enable responsible companies, NGOs, the media, and progressive government leaders to hold those responsible accountable for forest management.

GFW 2.0 can be useful to multiple groups of users involved with the sustainable management of forests:

Buyers of sustainable commodities. GFW 2.0 will enable buyers of sustainably sourced commodities―such as certified timber, palm oil, soya, and beef―to confirm adherence to or violations of supplier commitments to “no deforestation,” “no clearing of high conservation value forest,” and related criteria.
Suppliers of sustainable commodities. GFW 2.0 will help suppliers of sustainable commodities prove to buyers, investors, governments, and NGOs that their commodities are adhering to best forest management practices, national laws, criteria of the relevant commodity roundtables, or investor lending conditions.
Governments. GFW 2.0 is designed to help progressive elements in governments better enforce sustainable forest management and forest protection laws. GFW 2.0 is also designed to be a trusted, independent, and user-friendly way to help investors in REDD+ and other forest conservation projects monitor performance and hold countries accountable to their commitments on greenhouse gas emission reductions and forest conservation.
Conservation and community organizations. GFW 2.0 will enable NGOs dedicated to forest conservation, indigenous rights, and forest communities to identify deforestation hotspots as they arise and quickly mobilize action to curtail further clearing.
The media. GFW 2.0 will enable local, national, and international media to ring the alarm bell on deforestation hotspots around the globe at a pace never-before-possible, and thereby put pressure on governments, companies, and others to curtail forest conversion and illegal logging in time

Applying new technology

GFW 2.0 combines satellites, new algorithms, cloud computing, mobile phone technologies, and WRI databases to connect images, maps, photos, and data with forest clearing alerts ultimately within two weeks of significant deforestation occurring.

Because GFW 2.0 will be powered by Google Earth Engine and Earth Builder, it will bring to target users a seamless experience of the best technology offered by WRI, Google, and their partners, as Bloomberg does for the world’s vast, complex array of financial information.

Mobilizing human networks

GFW 2.0 will mobilize networks of people to ensure sustainable management of forests and greater forest conservation. Global Forest Watch “anchor” NGOs in each priority country or region, will actively use and contribute content in an open-source, network model.

These groups will include ScanEx and its non-profit affiliate Transparent World in Russia, Imazon in Brazil and their Amazon-wide network of partners across the seven neighboring countries, the Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) which covers the Central Africa region. More partners in Canada, China, Europe, and the United States are joining every day.

Watch a Sneak Peek of GFW 2.0 presented at Rio+20

Video streaming by Ustream

Speakers:

Carlos Souza Jr., Senior Researcher, IMAZON
Charles Barber, Forest Division Chief, Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, U.S. Department of State
Rebecca Moore, Google
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forest Initiative, World Resources Institute

Watch UNEP’s press conference featuring GFW 2.0 at COP18 in Doha

Speakers:

Mr. Heru Prasetyo, Deputy I, Presidential Delivery Unit on Development Monitoring and Oversight, Government of Indonesia
Tim Christophersen, Senior Programme Officer, Forests and Climate Change, UNEP
Jane Feehan, Natural Resources Specialist, European Investment Bank
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forest Initiative, World Resources Institute

Watch a Sneak Peek of Global Forest Watch 2.0 at the U.S. Pavilion, COP18 in Doha

Video streaming by Ustream

Speakers:

Nigel Sizer, Director, Forests Initiative, World Resources Institute
Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi, Head of REDD+ Task Force Working Group on Moratorium Monitoring, Presidential Work Unit on Monitoring and Development Oversight (UKP4), Government of Indonesia
Per Fredrik Ilsaas Pharo, Director, International Climate and Forest Initiative, Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Government of Norway
Tim Christophersen, Senior Program Officer, Forests and Climate Change, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Read more about WRI’s forest work here.

Science Reinforces Human Role as Climate Change Impacts Accelerate

Paul Mackie — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:13:29 -0400

A new report of scientific findings confirms not only that human activity is the primary cause of rising temperatures, but that climate change impacts are accelerating.

The compilation of peer-reviewed research includes evidence that melting rates for mountain glaciers around the world doubled between 2004 and 2006, and that more than 28,000 plant and animal species are changing habits due to new climatic conditions.

“Climate change impacts are happening now. This is not a distant phenomenon. And many impacts are emerging at a faster rate than previously modeled,” said Kelly Levin, an associate at the World Resources Institute who co-authored Climate Science 2008: Major New Discoveries with Dennis Tirpak, WRI senior fellow.

Levin said the trends may seem less surprising because we are inundated with so many stories about global warming. But as a co-author for the past four years of WRI’s annual compilation, she added that the repeated reconfirmation of trends should support the need for rapid and substantial greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation efforts worldwide.

The report is broken into four sections, which include some of the following sample findings:

Physical Climate:

The rate of growth of global carbon dioxide emissions between 2000 and 2007 was four times that of the previous decade.
A large majority of warming over the last century can be attributed to human activities rather than natural factors, such as solar variability.
If atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations reach 700 parts per million by 2100 (concentrations in 2008 were 385.57 parts per million), daily maximum temperatures are projected to rise to 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the U.S. Midwest and Southern Europe and exceed 122 degrees Fahrenheit in Australia, India, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.
Sea ice loss in the Arctic could have the potential to warm ground up to 930 miles inland, threatening to trigger ”rapid degradation” of permafrost.
This section includes studies in the areas of abrupt change, GHG and aerosol concentrations, temperature, and ocean behavior.

Hydrological Cycle:

From 1996 to 2006, the rate of ice mass loss of Antarctica increased by 75 percent.
The rate of melting and thinning of 30 glaciers across nine mountain ranges around the world doubled between 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.
Up to 60 percent of the hydrological changes in the Western United States are due to human activities, a trend which, if sustained, “portends a coming crisis in water supply.”
This section includes studies in the areas of glacial and snow melt, water supply, and storms.

Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services

Changes in 28,800 plant and animal systems and 829 physical climate systems have led scientists to conclude that human-induced warming is already “having a significant impact” on natural and physical systems.
Due to climate change-induced beetle infestations, the forests of British Columbia will turn from a small net sink of carbon dioxide to a large net source by 2020, with emissions trumping those related to forest fires.
If carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, tropical ocean “dead zones” are likely to increase by 50 percent by 2100.
This section includes studies in the areas of both marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Mitigation Technologies

A promising method of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air is under development.
A new non-toxic, inexpensive technology for storing solar energy, with potential applications for generating hydrogen power, has been discovered.
This section includes studies in the areas of solar, thermoelectric, biofuels, wave energy, batteries and ultracapacitors, and carbon capture.

WRI’s review includes peer-reviewed 2008 science and technology publications, including those from key general scientific and technical journals.

WRI, EIA Form Partnership to Stem Illegal Forest Products Imported Into U.S.

Paul Mackie — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:18:43 -0500

The World Resources Institute and the Environmental Investigation Agency today launch a partnership to combat illegal logging worldwide and clean up timber supply chains.

The partnership focuses on the 100-year old Lacey Act, which was recently amended to include plant products - including timber and wood.

“The Lacey Act, if enforced, has the potential to send a powerful signal around the world that the U.S. is serious about curtailing illegal logging. Increasingly, illegal logging and deforestation contribute to climate change,” said Jonathan Lash, president of WRI.

Signed into law by President William McKinley, the Lacey Act has been a powerful tool used by the U.S. to battle wildlife trafficking by prohibiting the transportation of illegally captured animals or wildlife products across state lines. The new amendment extends this protection to plants and their derivative products, including items ranging from lumber and wood furniture to paper and sporting goods.

“The bill marks the first time that a major consuming country has made the trade in illegally logged wood a crime. It provides a precedent-setting tool to change the face of a $1 trillion industry, reduce deforestation, and improve forestry governance,” said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director at EIA.

Proposed in 2007 by Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), with co-sponsorship by President-elect Barack Obama, the bill received widespread backing from a broad coalition of environmental, industry, and labor groups, led by the EIA.

The WRI-EIA partnership will support the coalition by delivering objective and timely information to governments and the private sector to facilitate adherence to Lacey Act requirements. The Lacey Act allows the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute if a product is produced in violation of the relevant laws of the country of origin and is brought into the United States.

“The WRI-EIA partnership will provide companies and government officials with FAQ sheets, forest information reports, and procurement guides. These will help them ask important questions to ensure their producers and importers trade in legally-sourced products,” said Dr. Lars Laestadius, senior associate at WRI.

“The U.S. is the world’s largest market for forest products,” said David Bonistall, vice president, Environmental, Health & Safety at NewPage. “The Lacey Act is monumental in that it could domino into other countries and increase transparency within the global wood market, ultimately enhancing the reputation of forest products as a sustainable material.”

“The Lacey Act will protect the forest-products industry’s global reputation by helping eliminate illegal logging, which in some places is carried out by organized crime, spreading violence and deforestation in some developing countries,” added Cassie Phillips, vice president, Sustainable Forests and Products at Weyerhaeuser. “It will cost the global industry economically, but we will all gain in the longer term as illegally sourced wood is removed from the marketplace.”

WRI’s partnership with the EIA arrives at the right time. December 6 is the official “forest day” for delegates at the United Nations climate conference in Poland, where WRI and EIA will both be holding events about the links between deforestation and climate change. Also, the first public comment period on issues relating to implemetation of the Lacey Act, which went into effect on May 22, ends December 8.

Russia: Profile of Total ICT Spending and ICT Household Spending by Income Segment

Tim Herzog — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:52:57 -0400

In Eastern Europe and Latin America all measured countries show a top-heavy BOP spending pattern, illustrated here by Russia. Russia is a BOP market leader in ICT spending in Eastern Europe: $1.4 billion, 35 percent of the total market.

New Toolbox Demystifies Green Forest Product Purchasing

Paul Mackie — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:00:38 -0400

Corporate managers will now get powerful help with today’s release of a “Guide to the Guides” - a toolbox that helps them understand and find the best advice on how to purchase products originating from the world’s forests.

Countless resources have been developed to help businesses sustainably procure forest-based products such as construction materials and paper. This proliferation is confusing many buyers.

Now a representative number of these resources have been referenced in an easy-to-use toolbox - which includes a full report that details the top 10 questions that corporate managers should ask when purchasing forest-based products and references to resources for help, a shorter overview report, and a Web site with a spreadsheet tool - released by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Top 10 Elements of Forest Sustainable Purchases

“Finding credible purchasing information around the complexity of the issues - including forestry, climate change, energy, and manufacturing - has always been a maze,” said David J. Refkin, director of sustainable development at Time Inc., who participated in a launch event here today at the National Press Club. “This is a virtual Rolodex of the issues and resources out there.”

The Guide to the Guides will help sustainability managers to define and implement purchasing policies for the entire range of forest-based products, from wood products like construction materials and furniture to paper products like packaging, tissue paper, and countless other products. It details topics such as forest certification, legality, environmental-friendliness, social impacts, and recycled-content percentages, and directs managers to advice on tracing their supply chains, implementing monitoring processes, and many other issues.

“Corporate managers are taking a close look at what they buy because of consumer preference for sustainable products, competitiveness, production costs, and the prestige of having a green brand,”; said Jonathan Lash, WRI president. “We want to help them make smart choices - both for the bottom line and to benefit the environment, particularly in addressing climate change.”

Cassie Phillips, vice president of sustainable forests and products at Weyerhaeuser Company, thinks the environmental benefits match the business payoffs. “Finally having a more complete picture of the landscape will make it easier for buyers to design purchasing policies that fight illegal logging, promote sustainable forest management, and protect the environment.”

Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD, added, “The idea is that simplified information, supported by specific advice on where to go for the details, can make decisions less complex for procurement managers and help ensure their purchasing supports both sustainability goals and corporate reputation.”

The World Wide Fund for Nature - International, for example, focuses on leveraging the global marketplace to help save the world’s valuable and threatened forests by combating illegal logging and promoting responsible trade between producers and purchasers. It also produced a popular “paper scorecard.” Bruce Cabarle, head of the WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network, said, “WRI and WBCSD have provided a useful toolbox that compliments WWF’s efforts to promote trade based on a stepwise approach to credible certification.”

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 28,000 square miles of forest - the approximate size of Ireland - were converted to other land uses each year between 2000 and 2005. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment found that 54 countries have lost 90 percent or more of their forest cover.

Encouragingly, forest area in Europe, North America, and China has been growing in the past decade due to reforestation initiatives. However, rapid forest loss continues in the tropical regions of South America, Africa, and Asia, where socio-economic and political problems present formidable challenges to forest conservation and sustainable management.

The new toolbox is located here and further information is available here and here.

Leading Companies Responding to Ecosystem Degradation

Paul Mackie — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:35:37 -0400

Corporate Ecosystem Services Review road-tested by Akzo Nobel,

BC Hydro, Mondi, Rio Tinto, and Syngenta

Global warming may dominate headlines today. Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow.

To prepare businesses for this new landscape, three organizations today launched a set of guidelines designed to help companies proactively develop strategies to manage risks and opportunities arising from ecosystem degradation.

The guidelines, called the “Corporate Ecosystem Services Review,” were developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with the Meridian Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Five WBCSD members - Akzo Nobel, BC Hydro, Mondi, Rio Tinto, and Syngenta - “road-tested” the methodology and provided input to its design.

“The world’s forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems are under tremendous pressure due to climate change, land conversion, and many other factors,” said Jonathan Lash, president, WRI. “As ecosystems degrade, companies will face operational, regulatory, and reputational risks while those that offer solutions may find new business opportunities and new sources of revenue.”

Ecosystems provide companies with a wide variety of benefits or services including freshwater, wood, pollination, climate regulation, and protection from natural hazards, to name a few.

“Ecosystem services are often unacknowledged, yet they underpin many corporate activities,” said John Ehrmann, managing partner of the Meridian Institute. “I am pleased with the feedback from company managers who are finding the guidelines helpful for developing strategies that improve both corporate performance and ecosystem stewardship.”

The road-testers found that the guidelines can provide a number of other benefits as well. They can help companies anticipate new markets and government policies that may emerge in response to ecosystem degradation. They can strengthen corporate environmental impact assessments by adding considerations traditional methods may overlook. They also can help companies better manage conflicts over resources, identifying options for better trade-offs between ecosystem services.

“The methodology helped us identify and rank emerging problems, and provided us with a framework for turning risks into opportunities,” said Peter Gardiner, natural resources manager at Mondi, a leading international paper and packaging manufacturer.

Mondi’s newfound strategies include a number of operational changes that will increase the company’s efficiency in using freshwater, a scarce ecosystem service, and lead to new markets for the company’s byproducts.

“The Corporate Ecosystem Review helped us to better understand how a number of emerging environmental changes are likely to affect our business and how our company might best position itself to respond to these changes,” said Steve Hunt, senior vice president, Asia-Pacific, Eka Chemicals, a division of chemical giant Akzo Nobel.

Some road-testers, such as Mondi and BC Hydro, used the guidelines to gain insight into the direct implications that ecosystem trends pose for them. Other road-testers, such as Akzo Nobel and Syngenta, applied the methodology to understand the risks faced by a segment of their customers due to ecosystem degradation and, in turn, discovered opportunities for new products or services that address these risks. The guidelines profile these and other road-test experiences.

“We’re going to be hearing a lot about the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review. A couple dozen more WBCSD members are already taking it up this year,” said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD. “Leading companies realize that they need to be prepared for the business challenges posed by ecosystem decline.”

The guidelines were launched at WBCSD’s annual conference of delegates in Switzerland. For a copy of The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, visit http://www.wri.org/ecosystems/esr.

Landscape Impact Assessment of Oil and Gas Industry in Russia

Richard Waite — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:53:51 -0400

The activities of the oil and natural gas sector in Russia have had a series of negative effects on the natural landscape. Fires, oil spills, and pipeline ruptures from systematic exploration, extraction, and transportation activities have wreaked havoc on local ecosystems. The resulting damage has led not only to a fragmented forest landscape, but also to the corruption and erosion of local settlements, which depend upon those ecosystems’ services to sustain their communities. As an extension of its forestry work, WRI and its partner environmental NGOs in Russia have begun the development of a methodology to assess the terrestrial footprint of the oil and gas industry on the Russian landscape. The majority of research conducted in this field lacks a straightforward, accurate, and comprehensive methodology. However, as more spatial information becomes available, it is now possible to objectively assess the scale of the environmental footprint of the oil and gas industry on the landscape. The satellite images have always been instrumental for specialists in conducting such assessments, but as of recent, websites such as earth.google.com made remote-sensing data available to a wide audience, enabling anyone to see the evident environmental footprint through the Internet.

A forthright and objective analysis of the activities of the oil and gas sector on the Russian landscape will have many positive outcomes. Primarily, it will set a baseline which we can use to measure future impacts. Additionally, such an assessment will assist in the prioritization of reclamation activities and efforts to reduce future impact. One can also expect it to allow for setting of environmental performance targets (e.g. voluntary commitments). With this work, we will promote transparency and social propriety in both local and international corporations currently operating in Russia, thereby securing the Russian citizenry’s right to a responsibly developed landscape, as well as a strong economy.

This new project is based on past successes of cooperation between WRI and Russian NGOs in the form of Global Forest Watch (GFW) Russia. In 2002, the GFW Russia initiative released Atlas of Russia’s Intact Forest Landscapes that was widely adopted by the Russian forest sector. Having examined the forest sector with remote sensing and GIS, GFW Russia found substantial evidence of impact from the oil and gas sector on the forest landscape. Now WRI and its Russian partners have posed the larger question at hand: How has one of the most significant industries in Russia affected the country’s landscape.

Forest Landscapes Initiative

Richard Waite — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:53:48 -0400

Our strategy is to harness the power of information and communication technologies (e.g., satellites) to strengthen the incentives and capacity for sustainable forest management.

We partner with in-country organizations in four forest-rich regions of the world: Central Africa, Southeast Asia, Russia, and South America. We also monitor tree cover change and intact forest landscapes at the global level.

State of the World’s Forests (Click map to view larger size)

Our activities:

Monitor and map forests—support national efforts to create, review and make public geo-spatial forest information and produce map-based tools for decision making.
Provide training and technical assistance to governments, corporations, and non-governmental organizations in the production and use of maps and information.
Build bridges among business, government, and civil society institutions to share information and promote collaborative problem solving.
Support sustainable procurement of forest products—provide purchasers with reliable, impartial, and easy-to-understand advice.
Support emerging forest/climate policies and incentives (e.g. REDD)—develop methods for measuring and monitoring changes in forest cover and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Assess forestry revenue distribution—examine how revenue from forest exploitation is distributed, so that forest-dependent communities receive their fair share.
Work at both ends of the forest products supply chain— The Forest Legality Alliance supports the Lacey Act amendment in the US, and similar legislation in the EU, by helping forest product producers and importers more effectively identify and avoid illegally sourced wood products.
Pilot test transformational investment strategies—Project POTICO (Palm Oil, Timber, and Carbon Offsets) is designed to divert new oil palm plantations onto degraded lands in Indonesia to curb deforestation.

Also check out our Interactive Maps and Data Explorer.

Mapping High Conservation Value Forests of Primorsky Kray, Russian Far East

admin — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Primorsky Kray, also known as Primorye, hosts one of the most diverse forest ecosystems in Russia that protects a significant portion of the region’s biodiversity. Its mixed broadleaf coniferous forests are the last remaining habitat for the Far East leopard and the Amur tiger. Historic and current development rates in the region raise questions, however, about the future conservation value of these forest ecosystems. Thus, a project was initiated to map high conservation value forests (HCVF) to aid regional conservation strategies and to update protected area systems.

The highest conservation priority should be given to those ecosystems that are most endangered: the least disturbed forests whose total area is decreasing with each passing year. In formulating a research plan, we discussed the following forest ecosystem categories:

Less disturbed forest tracts;
Floodplain and bottomland ecosystems of intact river basins;
Naturally rare and unique forest communities; and
Rare and endangered plant species habitats.

In mapping HCVF in Primorsky Kray, we focused on identifying forests important for the preservation of natural vegetation and its biodiversity. To a large extent, animal biodiversity would also be represented within these forest communities. Although this assumption might not hold true in each case, especially for large, mobile animal species, the survival of many animals depends on preserving natural vegetation and vegetation habitats. We did not consider the importance of forests in watershed protection and erosion control as well as cultural and social values in this analysis, since the identification of these elements requires a different approach and extensive fieldwork. Moreover, forest areas with different high conservation values often overlap.

An important aspect of this project was mapping less-fragmented forest territories. It was carried out in several steps. Step 1 used topographic information to exclude infrastructures from the territory of interest. The next step used remote sensing to identify infrastructure not present on available topographic maps, such as logging roads, clear-cuts, high-graded areas, areas converted to agricultural lands, mining areas, and other anthropogenic disturbances. As a separate agent, burned areas were also delineated and excluded from less-fragmented areas. Image interpretation was carried out using Landsat-7 ETM+ data and Landsat-5 TM data.

Independent mapping of core areas of the least transformed forests was carried out by simultaneously using topographic maps, forest inventory data, and satellite images. Least transformed forests were identified in all main forest formations of the region.

To locate less disturbed forest tracts, we combined the areas found to be least transformed with areas that were found to be least fragmented, identified clusters of candidate core areas and eliminated fragmented areas. In addition, floodplain and bottomland ecosystems of intact river basins, some rare forest communities, and known occurrences of rare plant species were mapped. All these kinds of HCVF, if protected together, could support the flora and vegetation diversity of Primorsky Kray.

The total area of HCVF identified (without intact forest landscapes) comprised 2.94 million hectares, or 17.8% of the region’s area. The total area of rare forest communities’ was found to be almost 195 thousand hectares. Altogether, more than 1600 habitats of rare and endangered vascular plant species were identified.

The most endangered vegetation types, especially in comparison to the relatively small area they occupy, are Manchurian fir and mixed formations in the very south of the region. The next priority for protection is the largest identified less disturbed forest tracts.

Stocks and Flows: Carbon Inventory and Mitigation Potential of the Russian Forest and Land Base

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0500

This report represents the culmination of a joint effort by Russian and American scientists, nongovernmental organizations, and U.S. organizations to assess the forest carbon situation in Russia and to make the data available to researchers and policy makers. It was drafted in English on the basis of a longer technical report tentatively titled “Carbon Budget and Climate Mitigation Potential for the Russian Forest and Land Use Sector,” which was translated from Russian. Both reports will be published in English and Russian versions - this report as a WRI report and the longer technical report by the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The importance of the Russian forest estate to the global carbon cycle is widely recognized. Russian forests are estimated to contain 776 million hectares of forestland, or nearly 23% of the total forestland in the world, providing one of the largest land-based carbon storage.

Historically, policy makers and scientists outside of Russia have had little access to data and information on the forest resources of Russia. The State Forest Fund Account (SFFA) collects and assembles forestry data since the 1960s and makes it available to the Russian speaking community from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In light of discussions to adopt carbon credits and trading systems, it is important to verify the credibility of the Russian national forestry data. The report compares SFFA data to independent information from the Nothern Eurasia Ecosystem map based on data from the VEGETATION system on-board the French Satellite, SPOT. Then, bottom-up and top-down analyses are used to assess the current size of the Russian carbon sink, potential sequestration in the future, and options for mitigation projects in Russia to contribute to solving the global warming problem.

The estimates in this report indicate that above-ground forest biomass contains approximately 35.1 Billion Tones Carbon Equivalents.

Atlas of Russia's Intact Forest Landscapes

admin — Tue, 01 Oct 2002 00:00:00 -0400

The romantic notion of the Russian forest as an unbroken band of boundless wilderness is a myth. In reality, the taiga consists of fragments of wilderness, separated by areas affected—either directly or indirectly––by modern land use.

This atlas represents the first attempt to map the extent and boundaries of intact forest landscapes across a continental size country. The goal has been to produce maps that are accurate and detailed enough to inform decisions concerning practical conservation and management.

Industrial forest harvesting and the fires that follow logging, agricultural use, and road construction are the main causes of fragmentation and transformation in European Russia and the southern parts of Siberia and the Russian Far East. In Western Siberia, the northern parts of Eastern Siberia, and the Far East the extraction of mineral resources (including prospecting and construction of transportation infrastructure) and the massive human-induced fires that accompany these activities have also caused fragmentation.

Approximately 289 million hectares (26 percent of the forest zone) remain as large, intact forest landscapes in Russia. Approximately 5 percent of the intact forest landscapes are in areas with special protection at the federal level.

Eastern Siberia is the part of Russia that is least affected by modern land use, with 39 percent of the forest zone still intact, followed by the Russian Far East (30 percent intact), and Western Siberia (25 percent intact). European Russia is the most affected (9 percent intact).

Almost half of all intact forest landscapes are found located in five administrative regions in Siberia: the Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya), the Evenk Autonomous District, Krasnoyarsk Kray, the Khanty Mansi Autonomous District, and Irkutsk Oblast. Seven regions have more than 50 percent of their area in intact forest landscapes:

Nenets Autonomous District (100 percent)
Koryak Autonomous District (88 percent)
Kamchatka Oblast (85 percent)
the Republic of Altay (63 percent)
Yamalo Nenets Autonomous District (62 percent)
Evenk Autonomous District (61 percent), and
the Republic of Tuva (57 percent)

Ninety-eight percent of the total area of intact forest landscapes is in the 29 regions that have at least 10 percent of the area in that category. Intact forest landscapes are completely missing from 49 of 89 administrative regions.

The forest zone of Russia is made up of 6 ecoregions according to the global classification by WWF. In half of these, more than 90 percent of the area is affected by modern land use, while only one (montane grasslands) has retained more than half of the area in intact condition. Most of the intact forest landscapes areas are in sparsely wooded and mountainous parts of Russia. More than 80 percent of the intact forest landscapes fall in one ecoregion: boreal forests/taigas.

Most administrative and ecological regions of Russia lack a representative or sufficiently large system of protected areas within the remaining intact forest landscapes. Approximately 5 percent of the intact forest landscapes (14.4 million hectares) have special protection in various forms: zapovedniks (strict scientific nature reserves), national parks, federal zakazniks (sanctuaries and wildlife refugees), and federal nature monuments. More than half of protected areas (3.6 percent) are in reserves.

Last Intact Forest Landscapes of Northern European Russia

admin — Mon, 01 Oct 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Many people think of the Russian tiaga as an unlimited expanse of undisturbed nature. The main purpose of this study was to find out to which extent this notion is true – to answer such questions as:

How should undisturbed nature be defined?
How can undisturbed natural landscapes be identified?
Where are the remaining intact natural landscapes?
What is the economic importance of these areas?
What is the level of threat?

European Russia, including the Ural mountains, was systematically studied in order to map remaining large intact natural forest landscapes. Large was defined as no smaller than 50,000 hectares in size and at least 10 kilometers in width. One might think of this minimum area as the size of a square with a side of 22 kilometers (although no natural areas are shaped in this way).

There were three reasons for the focus on large areas.

First, only sufficiently large areas are capable of conserving populations of large animals in their natural, undisturbed state, and of letting natural ecological processes – such as fire, wind throw, etc. – take their course.

Second, large undisturbed areas are important as a reference that helps in the understanding of already disturbed areas (the vast majority of forest landscapes).

Third, large intact areas are often comparatively cheap to conserve, as they tend to rely on remoteness and low productivity as their main sources of protection.

Forest landscapes were mapped. The reason for mapping landscapes instead of individual ecosystems is that the boreal forest is a natural mosaic of integrated ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and tree-less areas. Separating these ecosystems would not only be difficult but also artificial.

The goal was to find forest landscapes with a minimum of human disturbance. Two things must be realized:

that the boundary of human influence often is diffuse, and

that areas which are strictly free from human disturbance no longer remain.