 The Socio-ecological Union
Forest Campaign
On February 10 2000 the SEU Council adopted the SEU Forest Campaign.
The main goals are to promote the conservation of unique forest ecosystems and to promote the transformation of forestry management and the forest industry to sustainable development.
In reality, the SEU Forest Campaign has been active and has achieved a great deal long before it this official adoption.
- Among the achievements are the well-known campaign for the protection of the Karelian old-growth forest. As the result, logging in the most valuable areas was stopped and now the establishment of nature reserves in the most valuable areas is in progress.
- In the Far East in 1992-93 we managed to stop the logging at the future Botchinsky reserve, and in 1998 the efforts were launched to save the Central Sikhote-Alin forests.
- In 1994-95 the World Bank funded of $4.7 million (US$) for the suppression of an outbreak of the Siberian moth, shifting from chemical to biological methods of control.
- A bulletin dealing with forest issues for NGO representatives and for people involved in Russian forestry is published quarterly in hard copy. A continuous information exchange and contacts with national and international colleagues are two of the most important tools for increasing the abilities of former Soviet Union organizations to participate in and have an influence upon the decision making processes within their countries.
- The situation of Russian forestry, including the presence of foreign industry, is changing and developing at such a rapid rate that it is essential
that information is made available not only to foreign colleagues, but also to the public at large within Russia. Several of the organizations which have been most actively working on forest issues are now in a position to share their expertise and to assist other local groups in taking part in the work. Due to the increasing involvement of foreign activity in Russia, the demand for regular information updates from Russian NGOs on current forestry practices and developments has increased correspondingly. In response, an electronic "Forest Update" is now sent out bimonthly to a mailing list. It allows different groups within Russian and foreign groups working on Russian forest issues to receive timely information on decisions made at different official levels: planned decisions, different forest related activities by government, business and NGOs, initiatives etc. The English version focuses on all FSU countries, thus allowing closer cooperation on Russian forest issues.
Through the years 1997-2000, The Russian Forest Update (Russian and English versions) has gained a significant number of interested recipients. To quote one of the constant users of both versions from Scandinavia, "it is extremely useful as it gives a quick and exact picture of what is going on the vast area to the East." This electronic publication allowed interested observers to keep an eye on the different processes going in Russia and the CIS.
- Together with other NGOs a voluntary certification process established in accord with the Forest Stewardship Council system. SEU members are participating in the national working group on in the development of Russian certification criteria.
The SEU Forest Campaign aims at the development of a full scale SEU Forest Program. According to one of the SEU Forest Campaign initiators, Vladimir Zakharov, the full scale Program will become a reality, when all SEU members and their allies, that are dealing with forest problems, will be interested in joint activities. The discussion of such program activities has already started within
the SEU community. In 1999 we started work on the
identification and collection of the "positive initiatives" in forestry. Unfortunately, we do not yet have many positive examples, though some of the positive elements we have managed to discover are quite valuable. These practices may initiate sustainable management practices in forestry. Many of the SEU members and other organizations are interested in forest planting, and this
is an initiative that must be supported by all means.
The Forest Campaign works to connect these groups and to facilitate the networking among them. Many of the groups still lack the experience needed, and we are working on a special handbook for those, who want to plant their own forest.
SEU Forest Campaign:
P.O. Box 211 Moscow 121019 Russia
fax: +7 (916) 601-18-44
e-mail: vz_forest@mail.ru - Vladimir Zakharov
grig@bcc.seu.ru - Alexey Grigoriev
istoki@forest.ru - Olga Zakharova
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