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International Conference "Radical forests of European taiga zone: current state and problems of conservation" was held in Petrozavodsk from July 6-8, 1999. The conference was organized by Forest Institute of Karelia Scientific Center, National Park "Vodlozersky", TACIS project in Karelia and other organizations. Representatives of Forest Service divisions of Russia and Finland, research, conservation and other organizations from Russia, Finland and Sweden took part in the conference. The conference showed that conservation problems of forests, which were mostly closed to natural by their origin and history of development, are coming into serious consideration not only by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) but also numerous governmental research organizations and even Sub-divisions of Russian Federal Forest Service. Participants of the conference suggested different terms for these forests - radical, old growth, virgin, original, primary, inhomogeneous, undisturbed, etc. On the other side, the conference showed lack of any common (shared) opinion on that issue. The largest difference of participants' opinion was connected with the concept of "radical forests" itself (to be more precise - what forests should be considered as developing without any human disturbance or close to those). Almost all arguments and discussions were more or less connected with that question. For example, adoption of the "mildest" standards allowed some participants to say that such forests occupied up to 100% of forested area in some regions (which seems unlikely, even taking into account "the mildest" standards) or, at least, up to 90-100% of mature and old growth conifer forests. In that case, exclusion from operation (or at least temporary reserving) of all "radical" forests was rightly considered as a measure which would inevitably destroy all forest industry in taiga zone. On contrary, adoption of the "strictest" standards of "radical" forests allowed to say that these forests occupied not more than 6-8% of forested area in taiga zone of European Russia and so their temporary reserving is principally necessary without destruction of Russian forest industry. In general, the conference showed that the term "radical forests" is more social than a scientific one due to absence of common and generally accepted definition of the term. Actually, most participants of the conference understand the terms "radical", "old growth", "virgin", "primary", "undisturbed" as synonyms. In all cases, they refer to forests which either have been developing under almost no human influence, or which were able to reclaim their natural structure after the latest human impact. However, the broadness of the term (i.e. anthropogenic damage rate or forest state, which is close to its "natural", was understood differently. As a whole, the following general approaches to definition of "radical" ("undisturbed", "virgin", "primary" etc.) forests can be distinguished:
Many participants of the conference stated that it was impossible to discuss separately forested area when considering areas of "core taiga". It is necessary to consider taiga landscapes as a whole, including water, wetland, rock and other non-forest ecosystems which form an integral complex with forest ecosystems. Applying this approach, spatial arrangement of landscapes will play the key role together with rate of landscape fragmentation by economic infrastructure (roads, settlements etc.), presence of sources of anthropogeneous load on the ecosystems of the determined massifs, presence and location of forest drainage systems, etc. Some participants of the conference outlined necessity of "catchment basin" approach, if not when determining "radical" taiga landscapes, then at least when determining undisturbed taiga territories which would require first-priority protection. Necessity to take into account "edge" effects was also mentioned at the conference. These effects should be paid attention to, when determining preserved massifs of radical forests, i.e. inevitable influence of neighboring "developed" areas, settlements and transport infrastructure on marginal parts of the refuges. In particular, it was suggested to take into account this factor when estimating necessary area of reserved massifs of radical forests. Practically all participants of the conference agreed that there were no absolutely "virgin" forests left, i.e. which humans had not influenced. There is general "anthropogeneous background" consisting of total technogenous environmental pollution, climate change, fluctuations of population density in taiga regions, increase of total number of forest fires, etc., which produces a certain effect on all taiga ecosystems. Besides, practically all forests of taiga zone had been imposed to intensive human influence during long history of development - either influenced by slash-and-burn system of farming and associated fires or selection and clear felling operations, etc. In this connection, "radical" forests are not forests which have been developing without human interference, but forests, which have been developing under minimal human influence or which were able to recover their natural structure after serious damage.
Despite of difference of opinions, participants of the conference stated necessity of urgent measures to protect most valuable massifs of radical forests, especially the forests, which natural value was proved by numerous special research - Kalevala forest massif (Karelia), Vepssky forest (Leningrad region), forests of Andomskay elevation (Vologda region), Onega peninsula (Arkhangelsk region) and others, as well as necessity to conduct inventory of existing massifs of radical taiga forests.
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Editorial: Vladimir Zakharov, Olga Zakharova | |||||||||||||||
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