Forest Club model projects and sites

6. Conclusions

The last old-growth forests of Fennoscandia and Northern European Russia are under threat. The threat of destruction by modern forestry practices is real. Modern silvicultural methods and plantation forestry models as practiced in Fennoscandia have removed important natural disturbance regimes and many of the structural components from the forest. This has resulted in a biodiversity crisis in Fennoscandia, which is indicated by large numbers of forest dwelling species on the national red data lists for threatened and endangered species. In Northern European Russia fragmentation of old-growth forest areas and destruction of natural systems by timber mining and road building jeopardize the largest remaining intact forests in all of Europe.

Use of timber resources is not necessarily a problem for ecological integrity in itself. It is the level, type, and intensity of use which matters. The region has experienced several phases of forest use and exploitation, starting with subsistence use by hunter-gatherer cultures and presently the domination of modern industrial forestry as the primary use of the forests. The phase of forest use most detrimental to biodiversity and ecosystems is the phase of large scale rotation forestry, witnessed in Fennoscandia, which basically converts the forest from natural diversity to a high-yield mono-crop of export timber.

The phases of exploitation seen in the region are slightly different in Fennoscandia compared to Russia. Fennoscandian forests have been almost totally affected by large scale rotation forestry leading to the conversion of natural ecosystems and only small areas of old-growth forest remaining. Although Northern European Russian forests have been heavily exploited, many areas have not experienced the systematic intensity of industrial forestry. Russian forests are under threat but slightly more viable from an ecological perspective when compared to the forests of Fennoscandia.

Russian old-growth forests are of great international concern because they are the largest remaining areas of taiga in all of Europe. These areas are pools of biodiversity providing in many instances viable populations of species. These last areas also provide key reference areas for scientific research needed for understanding ecological dynamics and structures, which are necessary for the development of sound management regimes. There is now the opportunity to steer the evolution of forest use in Northern European Russia, so that the ecologically destructive phase of large scale rotation forestry is never realized on a broad scale.

Some ecologically valuable forest areas remaining in the European boreal zone of Fennoscandia and Northern European Russia are protected by national governmental initiatives and protection regimes. Private industry and private forest owners also have protected some old-growth forest areas. Importantly, many ecologically valuable areas are still not under any form of protection. Scientists from the region have made statements of how much should be protected; however, there is currently an alarming gap between the scientific view on what must be protected to ensure biodiversity and the actions governments and industry have actually taken in the name of ecosystem viability.

There is a need for a better overall system of protection for old-growth forests and forests of high conservation value. A comprehensive strategy for old-growth forest protection in each of the countries and the region as a whole must be developed. In order to create and enact this strategy the financial and administrative means must be secured to ensure improved inventories of old-growth and other high conservation value forests as well as to implement systems for monitoring forest status on an on-going basis.

Protection is not the end of the story. Maintenance of biodiversity also depends on the kind of forest management present in those areas, which are in use and not set aside in protection schemes. Until forest management truly reaches ecologically sustainable forest management the overall importance of protection of these last areas and areas of high conservation value is tantamount. The urgent need for wide reaching and efficiently implemented protection and sustainable management plans is at the heart of NGO demands for the protection of the old-growth forests of the European boreal region.

Pine forest in Kalevala area (Karelia Republic, Russia).
Photo: Alexei Yaroshenko.

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