Russian Forestry and Wood Supply Operations Analysis
FOREST LEGISLATION
20
The bill "On the Development of Small and Medium
Entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation"
creates a foundation for legal access to forest
resources by small and medium business. In
fact, the bill returns to the Forestry Code short-
term (up to one year) contracts of sale of forest
stands. It will become possible for regions to
form small forest plots and to hold auctions,
including the measures of forest conservation,
protection and regeneration in the initial price
of timber. Thus regions will get another tool for
increasing the income from using forests, small
business will get access to the forest resource at
a transparently formed price and big forest users
will get additional protection against dumping
in the market of round timber (at the moment,
unlike the small business "buying" cutting areas, a
leaseholder incurs extra costs for the conservation,
protection and regeneration of forests).
A bill being developed at the moment on making
amendments in Article 74 of the Forestry Code
is one of the most important for the currently
operating lessees. Its provisions are aimed at
forming a transparent mechanism of making
a contract of lease for a new period for bona
fide leaseholders, while in the current situation
a lessee whose contract of lease has expired
has no advantages when the forest plot is put
on a new auction, which gives rise to various
speculations and, in some cases, blackmailing
such a lessee.
The title of another draft federal law aimed
at the support of the forest industry is "On
Introducing Amendments to the Forestry Code
of the Russian Federation in Respect of Holding
Tenders for the Right of Making Contracts for
the Lease of Forest Plots for Logging Purposes."
One of the valuable innovations of the draft is
that tenders for the right of forest plot lease
will be held for enterprises that have their own
added-value wood processing facilities that are
not sufficiently provided with raw materials.
The procedure of forming plots for tenders and
the criteria, according to which the winner will
be determined, must be set forth in subordinate
acts to be worked out as a follow-up of said bill.
Thus, while at the moment there are two methods
of access to forest resources for enterprises of the
forest sector of the economy in Russia, with the
adoption of the above draft federal laws, tenders
for added-value wood processing enterprises and
short-term auctions of sale of forest stands - for
small and medium businesses - will be added to
the current auctions and priority projects in the
field of forest exploitation.
Here the leading role of regions in the
implementation of bills should be noted - without
the correct "zoning" of forest plots for various
types of access, the adopted laws will remain
just on paper.
Perhaps, the most discussed subject in the
context of forest legislation improvement is the
intensification of forest use and regeneration
as a measure of improving the efficiency of the
forestry complex. It is common knowledge that
the quality of forest plots accessible to transport
is worsening significantly due to the depletion of
#6 (2015) RUSSIAN
FORESTRY
the exploitable volumes of wood and deterioration
of the species composition.
Besides, the depletion of accessible forest
plots pushes forest users to go further to get
timber, which entails more and more frequent
conflicts with non-governmental environmental
organizations opposing the pioneer exploitation
of low-disturbed forest territories.
The model being discussed now makes it possible
to achieve a high economic efficiency in the
forest sector and an increase in the total volume
of logging on a unit of the area of a forest plot
with fundamentally new scopes of forest care
measures. A system of forest planning based
on an economic evaluation of the efficiency of
the entire cycle of forest management, taking
into account the environmental and silvicultural
requirements and the principles of sustainable and
permanent forestry, is used in the development
of the concept.
A road map has been prepared for implementing
the intensive model, according to which as early
as in the first half of 2015 pilot projects for its
implementation in some regions must be prepared.
Based on the allocation of new forest regions,
implementation of pilot projects is planned
for developing and testing the standards of
the intensive model in the Republics of Komi
and Karelia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Arkhangelsk,
Leningrad and Irkutsk Regions. Sites for the
long-term observation of the dynamics of forest
stands under the influence of the intensive model
standards and for testing the technologies of
intensive forest regeneration and forest growing
will be created there with the participation of
timber companies.
Based on the results of such testing, which will
be evaluated by appropriate field studies, the
standards will be finalized and spread to other
forest regions of the Russian Federation.
Later, it is planned to change the forest planning
documents of entities of the Russian Federation
(forest plans) to allocate zones that would have
good prospects for intensive forestry. After that,
lessees of forest plots that will be included in
the intensive forestry zone are to suggest their
own forest exploitation projects according to
the standards of the intensive model and the
Region's Forest Plan.
Thus, the implementation of the intensive model
of forest use and regeneration during 2015-2017
will mean an important step towards sustainable
forest management and forest use in the Russian
Federation, the need for which has been discussed
for as long as 15 years.
Several draft acts should be distinguished among
the bills aimed at forestry system improvement.
As to the improvement of the legal regulation
of forest pest control, there are provisions that
forest users will be in charge of forest protection
arrangements. The provisions being developed
will make it possible to significantly simplify all
necessary procedures and to considerably reduce
the period of salvage felling to 1.5 months after
finding a growing stand disturbance. In addition,
the bill introduces the definition of "wind-fall
trees", which will make it possible to procure
and collect them as a non-timber resource for
the own needs of citizens.
To improve the efficiency of fighting forest
legislation violations, a bill is being discussed
aimed at founding an institute of operational
forest inspectors, the body of which will be formed
from among officials of the organizations of the
industry and lessees. A system of "walkthrough
supervision" with respective powers to be assigned
to officials of the Federal Forestry Agency is being
introduced.
A draft law is being considered, which introduces
to the Forestry Code changes in the definitions of
the categories of protective forests and designated
sites of forests and in the provisions on the
improvement of their conditions. The essence
of the bill consists in establishing the general
principles of including forest plots in protective
forests and designated sites of forests. The bill
establishes a ban on industrial harvesting in
protective forests and designated sites of forests.
To conclude, it should be noted that the work
of improving Russia's forest legislation has been
and will be done with the direct participation
of the professional forestry community and all
interested parties. For that purpose, the Forestry
Council and Public Council operate at the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia.
Besides, a Task Group for the Improvement of
Forest Legislation with the participation of
representatives of the forest business has been
separately created at the Department of State
Policy and Regulation in the Field of Forest
Resources (unfortunately, it has not started its
operation yet).
A Public Council has been created at the Federal
Forestry Agency and operates with the active
participation of environmental organizations.
An interesting format of engaging experts in
solving a particular application task has been
implemented in the form of a separate Task Group
for the Implementation of the Federal Law No.
415-FZ, which has also been created at the Federal
Forestry Agency.
The most reputable deliberative body operates at
the Government of the RF, and this is the Council
for the Development of the Forestry Complex,
chaired by Alexander Khloponin, Vice-Premier of
the Russian Federation Government.
Thus, it can be stated that the process of forest
legislation improvement is taking place in
Russia with the active participation of as many
interested parties as possible, and each participant
may express his or her opinion concerning any
regulatory legal act, if he or she wishes to do so.
Summing up, it should be noted that it is over
the last two years that most changes have been
made in Russia's forest legislation, aimed mainly
at supporting the forestry business and improving
the forestry system in Russia.
Pavel TRUSHEVSKY,
Director of Forest Certification LLC
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