Russian government approved Forestry Policy

The final draft of the “Fundamentals of State Policy in the field of use, protection and reproduction of forests” was adopted by the Russian government at the session of September 23, as the Minister of natural resources and ecology Sergey Donskoy told reporters.

The document proposes to define the principles, main objectives, priorities and basic tasks of the state in the field of use, protection and reproduction of forests, as well as mechanisms for their implementation. The policy objectives are set in several spheres: economic (efficient administration of the forest sector and increase of gross domestic product in the forest sector on the basis of market demand), environmental (healthy environment for citizens and preservation of biosphere role of forests in Russia) and social (growth of the living standards of forest workers and sustainable socio-economic development of forest areas).

These objectives will be reached through solving ten tasks. Among these tasks are improving the efficiency of forest management, intensification of reproduction and use of forests, development of the internal market of forest and paper products, raising competitiveness of Russian forest industry, increase in efficiency and protection of forests, growth of productivity and improvement of the species composition of forests, creation of conditions for the participation of citizens in decision-making process in forest relations.