Russian Forest Research Articles

Digitalization as a new factor of sustainable development of the Russian forest industry complex

Digital technologies break new ground for forest management and regeneration though the forest industry complex is behind many industrial sectors according to the digitalization speed. The goal of study is to study the essence, principles and opportunities to implement digital technologies for the purpose of sustainable development of the Russian forest industry complex providing for collective advance international practices. The proposed concept is based on the methods of analysis and synthesis within the framework of the study of the forest industry complex in the integrity, unity and interconnection of its constituent parts in order to analyze, generalize information and to identify the prospects for using digital technologies in the economic systems management. In the framework of the study the context of modern system of forest industry complex management has been brought to light, there have been highlighted the issues which are possible to solve in the course of digital technologies. The result of the research is the proprietary model of the digital platform functioning, taking into account its conceptual characteristics and technological features of the forest industry complex management. Digital technologies give the forest industry a wide range of opportunities for sustainable development.

Composition and structure of regrowth forests on abandoned agricultural land

Overgrowing of agricultural land by forest in Russia is a large-scale process. This study aims to examine the composition and structure of forests that took over abandoned agricultural lands in Belorechensky district, Krasnodar Krai (Russia). The research on 4 farmland plots was carried out in 2018. At the time of observation agricultural land has been abandoned for 7 to 8 years. Research methodology was developed to determine parameters such as tree and shrub density per ha, height and age at 50 m and up to 100 m from the forest. Two study sites were dominated by mesophytes, whilst the other two sites were invaded by xerophytes. Xerophytic landscapes were co-dominated by downy oaks and dog roses. The stand density of examined plants was 1.7 times lower at 51 to 100 m than near the forest (P ≤ 0.05). There were 3.3 times as many dog roses as downy oaks. The stand density of common ash stand at 51 to 100 m from the forest edge was 10 times lower than that of dog rose (P ≤ 0.01). Mesophytic landscapes were co-dominated by black poplars and crack willows. Black poplar was 4.3 times more frequent than dog rose (P ≤ 0.002) and 130 times more common than elm (P ≤ 0.0001). Natural overgrowth or succession can affect vast areas of land. It was established that dog roses and downy oaks regenerate xerophytic fields within 6 to 7 years, whereas mesophytic fields become dominated by black poplars and crack willows within 5 to 7 years.

"THE VALUE OF STUMPAGE" WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF ENSURING ECONOMIC SECURITY AND COMPETITIVENESS OF FOREST INDUSTRY

The article contains an analysis of theoretical and practical approaches to assessing the value of the forest on the vine, as limited, but renewable resource that allows you to extract a significant income and meet the diverse needs of society. The use of a critical analysis in the research process allowed the author to present a comparative characteristic of the methods of forming the cost of forest resources intended for harvesting with a detailed description of the calculation methods; and also to establish possible reasons for the emergence of a conflict of interest between the state, as the owner of forest plots, and tenants. V. Pareto' s appeal to the optimum made it possible to reveal the regularity of the effect of «deferred damage» in the Russian forest industry, that is, the impossibility of future generations to meet their own needs for wood products. The approximate calculation of income from logging 1000 m3 of wood, confirming the existence of an economic resource for the formation of the process of competitiveness of the forest industry. The definition of the forest on the root. The author present the genesis of calculating the cost of standing timber, as the most important aspect of the forest economy, which is the starting point for determining the cost of products for end users. The factors that have a negative impact on the state of economic security of the forestry industry have been identified. In the conclusion, it is proposed to transform the mechanism for forming the cost of standing timber, taking into account various indicators, including market value, consumer demand, transport accessibility and quality of wood, which, according to the author, will allow not only comprehensive mechanization of the industry, also contribute to increasing productivity equipment and the development of the competitiveness of the industry.

ИННОВАЦИОННОЕ РАЗВИТИЕ ЛЕСНОГО СЕКТОРА РОССИИ: КЕЙС ЭКОНОМИКА ЗНАНИЙ

The Russian forest sector is now undergoing global changes related to the development of digitalization and innovation. Raising the innovation level is a strategically important task for the country. It depends on the conditions created for the development of intellectual resources. Forest is a natural capital, partially forming the country's national wealth. Russia occupies leading positions in the world forest yield. Attraction of innovation to the forest sector is the urgent task. For a long time, forest sector was unattractive for businesses and investors due to the long cultivation cycle, natural risks and large fire losses. Here innovations should come to rescue. They enable to automate biological processes and gain progress in productivity growth. Innovations should not be borrowed technologies, but created using our own resources. Today, scientists from Germany, Italy, and Costa Rica are looking for different approaches increasing forestry innovative potential. We propose to use knowledge for innovative development of the forest sector: there is a direct relationship between the levels of innovative activity and education. The aim of this article is to create instruments for the forestry innovative development, based on the knowledge economy, leading to the innovation formation.

Preface

The volume includes articles reflecting the results of scientific research on improving the use, regeneration, conservation and protection of forests, creation of new technologies for the chemical processing of wood biomass and bioenergy, increasing forest productivity through the use of non-timber forest resources, expanding functions and benefits of forest ecosystems, and on the development of forest policy, economics and legislation. The research results obtained were discussed at the V PAN-RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC - TECHNICAL CONFERENCE - WEBINAR “FORESTS OF RUSSIA: POLICY, INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION”, which was held at St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University in the mode of a webinar.The remote way of holding the conference did not reduce the quantity and quality of the presented scientific reports and the productivity of the event itself; moreover, it increased the number of speakers from various regions of Russia. On the days of the conference, the university celebrated two anniversaries: 100 years of the first department of forest economics in Russia, and 90 years of the Faculty of Chemistry and Technology (today known as the Institute for Chemical Processing of Wood Biomass and Technosphere Safety), which is why some of the reports were dedicated to these events. The published articles reflect results of scientific research on the effect of soil quality on forest productivity and survival rate of planting material, improving the technology of growing seedlings and creating forest plantations, and on the impact of agrotechnical and silvicultural measures on forest productivity.The results of studies of the chemical processing of wood and non-wood forest resources to create products used in technology, medicine and agriculture are presented. Forest legislation and forest legal relations in the Russian Federation have been analyzed and ways to improve them proposed.All published articles are of undoubted scientific interest for scientists and forestry experts.I would like to express gratitude to the authors of the published articles and thank the following university staff: Associate Professor S.V. Tereshchenko; Professor A.S. Alekseev, Associate Professor E.N. Kuznetsov; Professor A.N. Chubinsky; Professor D.A. Ponomarev; Associate Professor I.A. Melnichuk; Associate Professor E.G. Khitrov; and Professor V.Yu. Neshataev.Vice-rector for academic research,Candidate of Technical SciencesVasily Gedyo

Forestry development as an instrument for implementing the climate policy of Russia

The Paris Agreement is the legal basis for the current stage of regulation of greenhouse gas emissionsaimedat preventing further climate change. The Russian Federation has declared its national climate commitments taking into account the carbon absorption capacity of forests. It has been established that the current stage of development of the national economy is accompanied by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which will require additional measures to implement Russia’s climate policy. The article assesses the contribution of the Russian forestry to the fulfilment of the national obligations under the Paris Agreement. A negative tendency towards reduction of carbon sequestration in Russian forests has been revealed. As the main factors influencing the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions and their absorption in the forest ecosystems, the study identified forest fires, logging activities and the scale of reforestation. The article substantiate the expediency of the development of forestry as a condition for the implementation of the climate policy of both the country as a whole and its business entities. By implementing forest projects aimed at compensating for greenhouse emissions, representatives of the Russian business will be able to avoid the risks of losing the investment attractiveness of their enterprises and reducing the competitiveness of their products in international markets.

Investment attractiveness of the forest sector in Russian Federation

Forests are called the lungs of our planet, and most of the forest reserves are concentrated in Russia. Today, Russia has one-fourth of the world’s timber reserves. At the same time, the country does not occupy the first place in the global market of wood products. The share of the forest industry in the country’s entire industrial production is less than 4%. Russian forest industry enterprises are characterized by low efficiency, which in turn affects the economic performance of enterprises and does not generally meet the economic interests of the state. In modern business conditions, industry is interested in introducing new innovative technologies, products and, therefore, requires investments. The analysis of the situation in the Russian forest sector from investment attractiveness is made in the article. Conclusions about the investment attractiveness of the forest sector in Russia are formulated.

Potential and market demand for food and non-timber forest products of the Russian forest

Research of the food and minor resource potential of the Russian forest and market demand for these products has been done in the article. The objective of the work is to show an imbalance between the huge potential of food and other non-timber products and the limited demand for such resources. The subject of study is economic results of food and minor resources consumption of the Russian forest. The novelty of the research is that regularities are identified and development trends of demand for food and secondary resources of the Russian forest have been assessed. The demand is formed by supply and demand, on the one hand, by the national management system, forest legislation, traditions and customs, on the other. Harvesting centers of food and secondary resources of the Russian forest are shown. Measures are proposed to increase the efficiency of the use of food and minor resources of the Russian forest. The research results can be used by forest companies, scientific organizations. The research can be continued towards the inclusion of food and secondary resources of the Russian forest in the economic relations system in forestry at national and international levels.

Site types revisited: Comparison of traditional Russian and Finnish classification systems for European boreal forests

AbstractQuestionsForest classifications are tools used in research, monitoring, and management. In Finland, the Cajanderian forest site type classification is based on the composition of understorey vegetation with the assumption that it reflects in a predictable way the site's productive value. In Russia, the Sukachevian forest classification is similarly based on understorey vegetation but also accounts for tree species, soil wetness, and paludification. Here we ask whether Cajander's and Sukachev's forest types are effectively the same in terms of species composition, site productivity, and biodiversity.LocationBoreal forests on mineral soils in Finland and the Russian part of Fennoscandia.MethodsWe use vegetation and soil survey data to compare the Cajanderian and the Sukachevian systems in terms of the understorey community composition (that is supposed to define them), soil fertility and tree productivity (that they are expected to indicate), and biodiversity (that is of interest for conservation purposes). We create and employ class prediction models to divide Russian and Finnish sites into Cajander's and Sukachev's types, respectively, based on vegetation composition. We perform cross‐comparisons between the two systems by non‐metric multidimensional scaling ordination and statistical tests.ResultsWithin both systems, the site types formed similar, meaningful gradients in terms of the studied variables. Certain site types from the two systems were largely overlapping in community composition and arranged similarly along the fertility gradient and may thus be considered comparable.ConclusionsThe Cajanderian and the Sukachevian systems were both developed in the European boreal zone but differ in terms of the exact rules by which site types are determined. Our results show that analogous types between the systems can be identified. These findings aid in endeavours of technology and information transfer between Finnish and Russian forests for the purposes of basic or applied ecological research and forest management.

The results of mathematical modeling of the operating modes of the feller machine

Feller machines equipped with articulated or mixed type manipulators are widely used in the Russian forest industry. In the process of felling trees, due to the wide variety of objects of labor, dynamic loads arise on the technological equipment of the machine, which must be taken into account when designing felling machines and harvesters. In addition, when designing these machines, questions arise regarding the choice of calculation tree parameters and some parameters of technological equipment. For the design of the machine, it is necessary to determine the maximum possible mass of the settlement tree and its length, which in turn depend on the species, the categories of trees and the climatic conditions of the region where the felling is planned. This article published the methodology and results of a study of the influence of species and discharge of trees on the dynamic loads of technological equipment of a feller manipulator.

MARKING OF SEEDLINGS AND HARVESTED WOOD IN DIGITAL MONITORING SYSTEM OF RUSSIAN FORESTS

The traceability mechanisms of wood harvesting and supply chains, environmental crimes, illegal logging, as well as the marking of forests, have been the subject of research in the last decade by domestic and foreign specialists in various fields of knowledge, including lawyers, economists, engineers, etc. In the era of the development of digital technologies, their use significantly contributes to the effectiveness of the activities of control and supervisory and law enforcement agencies. However, it is still not possible to form a system of up-to-date data on the state of Russia's forests, eradicate the facts of illegal actions with wood, optimize the process of tracking supply chains and reduce production costs without reducing product quality. The article revealed differences in theoretical approaches to the definition of the concept of «tracking system» in Russia and abroad. In addition, the analysis of the applied methods of marking harvested wood allowed the author to distinguish chipping using RFID - marks (radio frequency identification) as a modern method that allows not only to automatically identify an object, but also to exercise control over movement without providing direct visibility with it. In the conclusion of the article, the author presents a conceptual system for monitoring the state of the forests of Russia, formed on the basis of the EGAIS platform. It is also noted that the intended architecture of the system should have the ability to track the product in real time precisely in the forest, as well as outside it - from suppliers and manufacturers who can use this information to make business decisions. An ideal version of the functionality of the tracking system is presented as the ability of the consumer through a mobile application to obtain information about the product in accordance with the logic and logistics chain (from the place where the tree grows - the rock - the age of the cutting - the harvester - the manufacturer).

Comparative advantages of Russian forest products on the global market

Russia possesses the world's largest forest reserves and is one of the major exporters in the world timber market. This paper explores the role of Russian forest products on the global market, taking into account competitiveness both at national and regional levels. The competitiveness level of traded goods was measured with three indicators using the approach of revealed comparative advantages. Analysis covered 153 countries and 81 Russian regions. Compared with previous studies, highly disaggregated data were used. 84 types of forest products were aggregated in 5 main product groups divided on the wood sector and paper sector. Results show that the main specialization in trade for Russia is raw wood and semi-finished wood and paper products. However, more than half of Russian regions demonstrated an advantage in trade in finished wood products while very few regions have comparative advantages in trade in pulp and paper products of high processing degree. Also, it was revealed that regions of the Russian Siberia and the Far East with significant forest reserves tend to have a narrow trade specialization in the export of roundwood and sawnwood. The majority of Russian regions intensively trade timber commodities at the world market. However, their geographical location and resource potential are still not used in the most effective way.

ON OF FOREST MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT IN RUSSIA

A survey of numerous official documents and publications reveals a severe crisis of forest management in Russia. Forest management paradigm, defined by the Forest Code ideologues, will lead inevitably to the Russian forest fund degradation. Meanwhile, forestry is the productive industry, which follows the market rules. For this reason, it should reconstruct forest management in Russia. A principle of forestry revival will be impartial ecological and market economic assessment of forest resources, which would be instrumental in transition of the subsidized scheme of forest management financing to a system that would provide rational forestry and a profit. In view of this, market transition of forest use is crucial to establish payments for standing timber based on rental income. This will guarantee the financing of reforestation as well as assignments to the budget at the different levels. Chief reorganization objective of forest management in Russia is outlined as follows: ensuring economic efficiency of the forest sector; sustainable use of forest resources and reforestation; forest conservation for the next generations.

ON FOREST MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT IN RUSSIA

A survey of numerous official documents and publications reveals a severe crisis of forest management in Russia. Forest management paradigm, defined by the Forest Code ideologues, will lead inevitably to the Russian forest fund degradation. Meanwhile, forestry is the productive industry, which follows the market rules. For this reason, forest management in Russia should be reconstructed. A principle of forestry revival will be impartial ecological and market economic assessment of forest resources, which would be instrumental in transition of the subsidized scheme of forest management financing to a system that would provide rational forestry and profit. In this regard, market transition of forest use is crucial to establish payments for standing timber based on rental income. This will guarantee the financing of reforestation as well as assignments to the budget at the different levels. Chief reorganization objective of forest management in Russia is outlined as follows: ensuring economic efficiency of the forest sector; sustainable use of forest resources and reforestation; forest conservation for the next generations.

Brief description of the state and development of the Russian forest sector

Brief description of the state and development of the Russian forest sector

Changes in Market Behaviour Among Russian Forest Enterprises

The article reports on a follow-up of a case study conducted in 1998–1999 investigating the rules governing the behaviour of Russian forest enterprises. The new study, carried out in 2011–2012, used the same survey in interviews with a subset of the enterprises that took part in the original investigation. The objective was to see whether enterprises’ behaviour and the rules governing their behaviour had become more market efficient since our original study. The new study showed that, over a ten-year period, the behaviour of the surveyed enterprises became better adapted to rules governing a modern market economy. However, many traits of the virtual economy remained.

Quantifying scarcity: deforestation in the Upper Volga region and early debates over climate change in nineteenth-century Russia

ABSTRACT The paper examines the early history of environmental concerns in Russia. It focuses on a case study: the debates about a potentially detrimental impact of deforestation on water regimes, which took place in the 1830s–40s. It examines two sets of issues: the role of ideas about a growing scarcity of forest resources in Europe; and the actual state of forests in Russia that provided some evidentiary basis for these debates. It argues that these debates were possible at the convergence of several trends: an expanding role and objectives of the forest administration well-versed in European scientific debates of the age and at the same time a visible danger of deforestation in some regions of a strategic significance to the empire. The author also considers different expert cultures and evidentiary standards that could be observed during the debates.

Vega-Les Information System. Actual Features and Future Evolution

The paper describes the Vega-Les (“Les” is the Russian word meaning “forest”) information system developed in the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI) for complex monitoring of the Russian forests with satellite data. The Vega-Les information system provides online access to continuously updated long term Earth remote sensing data and derived products archives and automated data processing, analysis and synthesis online tools for wide range of remote users for forest resources monitoring and research. The paper gives information about system’s main features, available satellite data and provides examples of data analysis and processing tools.

Financing of Innovative Projects in the Forest Industry

Over the past two decades, the Russian forest industry has faced many challenges. The combination of growing competition from imports, digitalization of the economy, competition from substitute materials, environmental problems and recent economic sanctions have led to a decrease in investment activity in the innovative development of the forest industry. The growing realization of the ecological properties of wood encourages governments and private enterprises to invest resources in research and development of innovative materials and products derived from this material[12]. Similarly, the desire for energy independence and concerns about climate change are driving the development of renewable energy. Woody biomass is a carbon-neutral energy source that can provide heat for district heating or be converted into biofuels by thermochemical or biochemical processes [20].This article provides some examples of major innovations in the production and application of wood products. The author’s definition of “innovations in the timber industry” is presented. The most effective measures of state support of the industry are highlighted. The stimulating aspects of innovation development in the forest sector are defined. This study found that the implementation of programs of transformation and innovation stimulation of the Russian timber industry is possible only with the radical tools used by the state.

Низкоуглеродный тренд в инвестиционной политике: поиск эффективных адаптационных механизмов

<span>Климатические инициативы различного уровня создают новую хозяйственную реальность и выдвигают новые вызовы для российской экономики. Цены и объемы закупок, а также выбор поставщиков на мировом рынке все чаще ставятся в зависимость от углеродоемкости и энергоэффективности производства товаров и услуг. Движение к «углеродной нейтральности», достижение которой невозможно без внедрения технологий, сокращающих выбросы парниковых газов, перехода к использованию экологически чистых или переработанных материалов, а также устойчивого лесопользования, сегодня необходимо для сохранения конкурентоспособности любой национальной экономики. И России также не избежать радикальной декарбонизации производственных процессов, даже несмотря на уникальные абсорбционные возможности российских лесов. На начальном этапе, для снижения нагрузки на углеродоемкие отрасли, большая часть сокращения совокупной эмиссии парниковых газов антропогенного происхождения здесь может быть достигнута за счет секвестрации углекислого газа лесными массивами.</span>