Russia

Sustainable forest management and empowering forest residents are still paying dividends around the Polistovsky Nature Reserve five years after the first efforts to build a local ecotourism economy.

The final stage of the 11th All-Russian Junior Forestry Competition “Podrost” was held near Moscow in Pushkin, from 12 to 16 May 2014. Of those implementing the regional FLEG II Program activities, representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus and Moldova attended the competition this year.

Moscow, April 3, 2014 – a round table "Improving governance and law enforcement in the implementation of major forest operations and forest resources in the FLEG II (ENPI East) Program" was held as a part of the Arkhangelsk International Forestry Forum.

It’s been a year now since Regulation (EU) No. 995/2010 was put into force (3 March 2013), a document designed to ban all access of illegally harvested timber to the European markets. Yet, there are issues of the Russian timber origin verification that remain unsettled.

Pushkino (Moscow Region), 27-28 March 2014 – a seminar, "Module-based programs of forest law enforcement and governance training to be delivered through networks", was held at the Russian institute of Continuous Education in Forestry.

Moscow, February 26, 2014 – The round table "Legal protection and preservation of forests in Russia” took place at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Moscow. The FLEG II (ENPI East) Program, funded by the European Union, was presented during the event. The list of recommendations to improve the legislation was developed.

On the 3rd of April 2014, a round table on "Improving governance and law enforcement in the implementation of major forest operations and forest resources in FLEG II" will be held as a part of the Arkhangelsk International Forestry Forum.

Suifenhe (People’s Republic of China), February 26, 2014: an international workshop on promoting legal and sustainable timber trade between China and Russia has been held to discuss the implementation and strengthening of forestry legislation. The EU funded FLEG II (ENPI East) Program was presented during the event, alongside focal points of combating illegal logging and associated trades; improving cooperation between the countries; and the organisation of special forestry training for Chinese companies.

As part of Arkhangelsk Forest Forum, Arkhangelsk hosts on 2 April 2014 a round table: “Forest Management in the Context of the EU Timber Regulation”. A joint initiative of WWF Russia, TRAFFIC and Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN), the round table is organized within the FLEG II (ENPI East) program financed by the EU.

How much timber is logged illegally in Russia? No one knows the exact volumes. The ENPI East Countries FLEG II team has brought leading experts together to start developing a methodology to assess the volume of illegal logging in Russia at the federal and regional levels.