Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Completed work In 2021, measures were taken to restore forests: planting forest crops; ForestGrand LLC planted 126 thousand Korean cedar seedlings on an area of 40 hectares. 15 company employees and 14 local residents of the Primorsky Territory were involved.
The National Project "Ecology", in the section "Conservation of the country's forests in order to ensure a comfortable and safe environment for the residents of the Russian Federation", specifies two key indicators: the forest cover of the Russian Federation's territories and forest carbon sequestration. The forest cover of the territory should increase from the basic 46.4 to 46.5 per cent by 2024. Carbon absorption by forests - to increase from 600 million to 610 million tonnes. According to the project office, the indicators of the federal project "Forest Conservation" of the national project "Ecology" in 2019-2020, as well as at the end of three quarters of 2021 have been achieved, some exceeded.
Thus, in 2020, the ratio of the area of reforestation and afforestation to the area of felled and dead forest stands was 92.1% instead of the planned 72.8%. The area of reforestation and afforestation in 2020 reached 1158 thousand hectares instead of the planned 1100 thousand hectares. Damage from forest fires in 2020 totalled RUB 11.5 billion instead of the expected RUB 18 billion.
More than 1,000 units of forestry machinery and equipment worth RUB 650 million were purchased for reforestation work. Technical re-equipment of forest firefighting units was carried out. More than RUB 3.2 billion was allocated to the regions for the purchase of forest firefighting machinery and equipment, which was used to replenish regional fleets by more than 9,000 units. At the end of the first half of 2021, reforestation work in the country was carried out on an area of 279 thousand hectares, which is about a quarter of the volume planned for the year and 16 thousand hectares more than at the same date last year.
What needs to be done to make Russia's forests a real tool for influencing climate change? Increasing the absorption of greenhouse gases by forests and preventing emissions need to be considered from different perspectives.
Planting forests = reforestation? The development of the federal project "Forest Conservation" overlooked the most important factors that ensure the achievement of a number of its targets. In particular, the claimed high rates of reforestation do not mean anything in themselves, as no proper care of young forests is carried out on a national scale. The formation of young trees takes place on an ad hoc basis; in fact, natural reforestation processes are in progress. In such a situation, the creation of nurseries, breeding and genetic centres, and forest planting campaigns do not bring the expected results.
With few exceptions, economically valuable plantings of young trees of target species cannot be formed without area thinning. According to Rosleskhoz reports, thinning in young trees is carried out annually in the amount of about 250 thousand hectares, which is clearly insufficient given the declared area of reforestation of 700-800 thousand hectares per year. According to my assessment, thinning in young forests, which has a silvicultural effect, is carried out on no more than 10 thousand hectares, not 250 thousand hectares, as stated in the latest version of the state programme "Development of Forestry until 2030" and indicated in reports on the national project.



According to official data, 53.5-57 per cent of planted forest crops die in the first five years after establishment. In reality, the situation is even worse. According to experts' estimates, about 90 per cent of plantings die because there is no regular proper care. In most cases, plantations either die 10-20 years after establishment or form overcrowded, extremely fire hazardous forest areas. All the costs of building and maintaining nurseries, planting and simulated maintenance are lost, and the forest regenerates naturally, through succession. Instead of emphasising seed harvesting, seedling production and planting, it is worth considering redirecting some of the funds to providing quality care for plantings that were made 5-15 years ago. This will not only save a lot of money, but also achieve real results to improve forest productivity.
So far, reforestation and afforestation still lack independently verifiable indicators that could be used to assess the quality of the work carried out. Without the introduction of such indicators, the implementation of this federal project (in terms of reforestation and afforestation) is a waste of funds that will not lead to a meaningful increase in either the area or quality of forests.