Forest Designation by Purpose as the Basis of Forest Management

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Abstract

In 1998, Russian Federation declared its transition to sustainable development and reviewed its attitude to the fundamentals of forest management. In 2007, the state, as a constitutional guarantee of the preservation and stability of the environment, gave up the idea of being directly involved in economic activity and put its hopes on intensified business and cooperation with private companies by delegating some of its powers to regional authorities. Such a separation of powers between the federal center and the regions is in line with the principles of sustainable forest management aimed to develop areas in Russia. Nowadays, forest management is based on the concept of the forest as an ecological system, or as a natural resource. Due to this dual character of the "forest" notion, the theory and practice of forestry now differentiate between protection forests, production forests, and reserve forests. Designation by purpose is the core of the strategic planning of forest use and integrated development, including conservation, protection and restoration of forests, and is the basis for controlling the degree of impacts on forests. Analysis of the regulatory framework for designation of forests by their purpose shows that the current legal regulation in this sphere does not fully serve regional interests aimed at sustainable development of territories and does not contribute to sustainable forest management. At present, there is a need for additional functional classification of forests by their purpose and respective regional systems of forest management. The author shows that the existing in the Russian Federation classification, including both protective, production, and reserve forests, requires improvement in order to be further used in developing a set of measures for preservation and enhancement of the target functions of forests.

Authors

Kharlov I.Yu., Candidate of Agriculture

Siberian Forest Experimental Station, Branch of the Russian Research Institute for Silviculture and Mechanization of Forestry

Affiliation

Siberian Forest Experimental Station, Branch of the Russian Research Institute for Silviculture and Mechanization of Forestry

Keywords

forest plan, forestry regulations, sustainable development, protective forests, designated areas, production forests, reserve forests.

References

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