Russia
The unexpected rise in food prices in 2008 had a complex causality, with climate variability acting as an important trigger. This was followed by the financial meltdown in 2009 and high food prices again in 2011-12. These complex crises,
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.
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.
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.
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: