Trend of forest resources, policy and management in Khabarovsk Krai
Hiroaki Kakizawa
Hokkaido University, Research faculty of Agriculture
Abstract.
In Khabarovsk Krai, it is commonly acknowledged that forest resources have been degraded. The ratio of younger forest and soft broadleaf forest has continued to increase. Major causes for the degradation of forest are considered to be the fire, followed by logging activities. Statistics showed that about 70 to 90% of forest fire was caused by human activities. Logging activities have been targeted on accessible and high quality forest, and were carried out in high-grading with improper method. So far, the forest development strategy in the Russian Far East is “Cut and Run”, and considered as not sustainable.
Frequent change of forest policy and administration system, negatively affect to forest management. New Forest Code was enacted in 2007. Under new code, forests are still Federal property but authority for managing it is delegated to the Regional level. Forest management organization was also fundamentally reorganized, and former management unit was split into administration body and operation body, and the latter was corporatized. This reform brought further turmoil to forest management.
Another issue which affects forest management is timber trade. Timber export form the Russian Far East has rapidly increased after Ruble crisis in 1998, especially to China and estimated amount of export to China was 8.4 million m3 in 2007. Russia is intended to introduce 80% log export tax and this policy has potentially major effect both on forest management and industry in Khabarovsk Krai.