Publication

"The current situation of the Russian forest sector is very contradictory. On the one hand, Russia’s vast forest resources provide not only Russia but the whole world with a great economic and ecological potential. On the other hand, the many unresolved problems have led to a situation in which the sustainable development of the Russian forest sector is seriously endangered. 

In their timely article Sten Nilsson and Anatoly Shvidenko emphasise that the world has seen too many forests used as a short-term cash crop without regard for the longterm negative consequences. The challenge is to avoid the same happening in Russia. 

In addition to describing the Russian forest sector and identifying its problems, Nilsson and Shvidenko suggest policy actions that might lead to an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable development. A special feature of this article is that it includes several valuable maps depicting the forest sector of the Russian Federation. The results are mainly based on the work carried out at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in collaboration with many Russian institutions. 

In its publication activities IUFRO intends to put an increasing emphasis on synthesis and state-of-knowledge reports. Therefore, I hope that this article also serves as a good example of a synthesis report on the whole forest sector at a country level. 

Both authors have a long tradition in IUFRO and are well respected in their fields. Anatoly Shvidenko currently acts as a Coordinator of Working Party 4.02.06, Resource Data in the Boreal Regions. Sten Nilsson was a Coordinator of S4.07.05, Economic Evaluation of Forest Damages."