Archive of Information

The teachers from Russian forest universities praised the experience of sustainable forest management in the Komi Republic

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Russian modern forestry has some vexed problems – from the imperfections of the forest legislation and immature market relations to the depletion of forest resources and low efficiency to deal with forest fires. Obviously, it’s impossible to solve all forest issues quickly; the buildup of sustainable forestry in Russia will take years. One of the basic conditions for changing the current situation is the availability of qualified forest specialists. Aware of this, WWF Russia organizes seminars “Best practices for sustainable forest management” for teachers from Russian forest universities for the third time. According to WWF, the Republic of Komi has the same experience as Pskov Model Forest and Finland.

23 people from different parts of Russia – Dagestan, Ussuriysk, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Krasnoyarsk and many others – were selected to participate in the meeting competitively. The organizers of the seminar had a difficult task to show the Komi forestry from various sides during a several days period in a way so that each participant could introduce the knowledge in their university background.

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In Umea all Sweden is spread before the eyes…

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Geographic information systems and data of Earth Remote Sensing are widely used for all kinds of purposes – from archaeological researches and search for mineral resources to the current monitoring of spring flood and forest fire spread. How to use these types of information for the forest use planning and how via GIS to plan the location of forest roads and logging sites faster and more competently with account of the landscape boarders and conservation of ecological values of the forest? To answer these questions Silver Taiga Foundation specialists started for Sweden, the country world-famous for its rich experience in forest management and forest planning. Here in the northern city Umea on the basis of the Department of the Forest Resource Management of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Yury Pautov, Elena Popova, and Nikolay Shuktomov took a short course on work with GIS and ERS. Read more

Meetings in Leshukonye

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In February representatives of the “Model river Mezen” project Working group made another trip to the Leshukonsky district of the Arkhangelsk region.

Silver Taiga Foundation ecologist Nikolay Shuktomov, local communities coordinator Valentina Semyashkina, and the deputy of the Udorsky municipal district Council Albert Loginov participated in the meetings with the residents of the rural settlements Yuroma, Tsenogora, Koynas, Vozhgora, and the regional center Leshukonskoye. Most of the meetings attendees listened with interest and understanding to the information about the “Model river Mezen” project implementation progress and difficulties the project Working group had faced, including one of the most significant problems – lack of integrity in the river resources management.

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On pros and cons of the draft law “On amateur fishing”

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Silver Taiga Foundation employees took part in the parliament proceedings on the draft law of the RF “On amateur fishing” organized by the Committee on Natural Resources, Nature Management and Ecology, State Council of the Republic of Komi.

As is known, in 2010 some amendments were made in federal law №66. According to them free amateur fishing on the leased areas was forbidden, which evoke a wide response in the society and displeasure among the amateur fishermen. During the next two years several alternative draft laws on amateur fishing were developed. Finally, another version was submitted for consideration to the State Duma of the RF.
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“I choose forest” is a must-see movie for everyone!

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On February 11, 2013 a presentation of the film “I choose forest” was held in Moscow. The participants of this film representing the Komi Model Forest – Silver Taiga Foundation Director Yury Pautov and Head of the Priluzje forestry unit Alexander Kindsfater took part in this event.

The film has been made in partnership of WWF – IKEA and represents a 40-minute documentary telling 2 parallel dramatic stories. On the one hand, it reviews contemporary problems of Russian forests, on the other hand, shows the process of choosing the right life path by a young man who decided to specialize in forestry.

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From the Model forest to the Model republic

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This was the motto of the conference organized by the Silver Taiga Foundation at the end of the anniversary year: in 2012 the Foundation celebrated its tenth anniversary and the Komi Model Forest reached the age of 15.

When introducing the results of the fifteen-year activities and perspectives of the Model forest to the participants Deputy Director of the Foundation Yury Pautov highlighted the fact that the Model forest is not an organization and even not a territory, it’s primarily the collaboration of all the participants of the forest relations including the representatives of the state, forest service, business, science, local self-government, regular residents of the forest villages and settlements… It’s the cooperation aimed at the development of the reasonable, sustainable management of our forests.

Herewith, Yury Pautov paid attention of the participants to the advantages gained from the principles and approaches the Model forest is based on. It is an acceleration of the practical solution of the burning problems existing in the forest industry – from idea to implementation. It is a fast adaptation to the new challenges. It is a possibility for practical demonstration and approbation of the results and a joint solution of the issues requiring an interaction between different structures and departments. Model forest is also giving a chance for natural resources management on the landscapes level, which is unfortunately missing in the official management practice. Besides, the possibility of involvement of the experience and specialists from other regions and countries plays a major role.

The presentation of the results obtained during the 15 years of the Komi Model Forest activities submitted to approval of the conference participants clearly showed that all these advantages were successfully used by the project participants, and currently the experience of the Model forest in Komi is not only disseminated in the republic but also is in-demand in other regions of Russia and abroad.

The Silver Taiga Foundation Director Przemyslaw Majewski described it to the conference participants by the example of the international project “Baltic landscapes”. According to him, other countries and regions have the same topical problems as we do. The experience shows that new challenges emerge and act everywhere faster than the modern management can handle. These are both the consequences of the globalization and the climate change, and the growing load on the resources… Such “old” issues as participation of the local population in the resources management, protection of soils and water bodies, etc. are relevant for many regions and countries the same as for us. And, as people have already seen in many countries, the Model forest platform gives a chance to solve these issues wholistically and more effectively.

The presentation of the Komi Republic state program “Forestry development”, delivered by the Head of the department of state forest register and forest use management of the Forest Committee of the Komi Republic Andrey Semenovich Navalikhin, has also aroused interest among the participants of the conference.

L.A. Guryeva, Deputy Director for educational and scientific work of the Syktyvkar Forest Institute, also addressed the meeting and presented the report “Forest education as a basis for sustainable development of the region”. D.Zh. Kutepov, Head of the Consulting center “Tefra” talked about the possibilities and restrictions of the transition to the intensive model of forestry in Komi. The presentation of the Foundation coordinator working with the local communities V.T. Semyashkina was devoted to the topic of sustainable development of local communities, problems of local nature use and directions for solving these problems undertaken within the frameworks of the Silver Taiga Foundation projects.

The initiatives of the Komi Model Forest have really been disseminated over these years even in other forest districts of Komi. The Silver Taiga Foundation in cooperation with its partners is trying to facilitate the solving of the nature use problems and searching for the ways to improve a socio-economic condition in these rural districts within the frameworks of other projects, in particular, “Forest village”, “High Conservation Value Forests”, and “Model river Mezen”. This was an importance of this tendency for dissemination of the positive results of the development projects, which was emphasized in the title of the anniversary conference – “Sustainable development of forest regions: from Model forest to Model republic”.

Evgeny Lopatin, an employee of the University of Eastern Finland, talked about the possibilities and practice of using a promising method of remote sensing for forest inventory and landscape planning.

At the end of the conference a short exchange of opinions on still unsolved problems hindering the sustainable development in our republic and obvious “bottlenecks” requiring special attention in the short term took place.

In addition to the presentations, questions-answers to the speakers and problems discussion, a lot of cordial words were addressed to the Silver Taiga Foundation team and its Director Przemyslaw Majewski during this anniversary conference. The Forest Committee of the KomiRepublic, OJSC “Mondi Syktyvkar”, Syktyvkar Forest Institute, Consulting center “Tefra”, and representatives of the population and NGOs of the Priluzje and Udora districts congratulated the hosts of the conference on their anniversary.

“Model forest”: regional experience at the European level

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The second annual conference within the frameworks of the “Baltic landscapes” project took place on November 5-8th in the Polish town Mikolajki.

It will be recalled that “Baltic landscapes” is an international project aimed at the development of the new approaches in the forest landscapes management. Only considering the forest landscape holistically it is possible to competently and timely respond to such challenges as globalization of markets, climate change, necessity to more intensely use resources, problems of the environmental conservation, etc. The main target of the project is to facilitate the development of sustainable forest landscapes management.  The project objectives are implemented via creation of a network consisting of seven Model Forests located in four countries – Belorussia, Finland, Poland, and Sweden. Other member countries of the project – Estonia, Latvia, and Norway – are planning to disseminate the results. The project is funded by the European Union through the interregional programme INTERREG.

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Any sandpiper is great in his own swamp

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That’s how the teacher of Geography from the rural school of the village Lugovoy of the Pechora district Elena Albertovna Romanyuk called her author’s educational program. The program, developed within the framework of the “Forest village” project, is devoted to familiarization of the high-school children with the basics of economic literacy. A seminar-presentation of this program was carried out at the beginning of November in the Udora district.

It was attended by the teachers of Geography from several schools of the district, as well as teachers of supplementary education. The seminar was opened by Tatiana Nikolaevna Bykova, Head of the Curriculum Office of the Department of Education of the municipal entity of the municipal district “Udorsky”.

Prior to the presentation of her educational program, E. A. Romanyuk, who had arrived specially for holding a seminar, talked about the fact that under present circumstances it is small business which can become a survival, transformation and further development model for the rural settlements left “on the sidelines” during the last decades. However, experience shows that very few villagers are ready to start an independent business, become entrepreneurs. They have to be trained, they have to be taught.

In addition to the economic competence formation among the rural children, the program of E.A. Romanyuk is aimed at the dynamic personality formation in the modern rural society, socialization of the pupils, fostering a love for the small motherland. One of the practical tasks of this program is to make rural pupils interested in the entrepreneurial activity based on their introduction to the fundamentals of economics and business, their familiarization with the practical possibilities for entrepreneurial activity in this specific village, in their own district.

Judging by the reaction of the seminar participants to the initiative of the teacher from Pechora, there is a hope that Udora rural teachers will turn their attention to this program, adapt it to the local conditions and try to implement it in their villages – within the frameworks of the class hours or as extracurricular activities. The materials for the lessons prepared and submitted by the author of the program including theoretical knowledge and practical creative works, business games, and excursions will be of great help for this activity. Besides, in the future an exchange of experience in adaptation and implementation of this educational relevant for the village program in the Udora will be organized within the frameworks of the “Model river Mezen” project.

Translated by Irina Sokolova

Regional risk assessment for non-certified wood will be developed in Komi

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The first meeting-seminar for the representatives of the parties interested in the development of the regional risk assessment for controlled wood at the republican level was held on October 25th in Syktyvkar on the initiative of the Russian national office of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Silver Taiga Foundation.

The term “controlled wood” was introduced in 2004 to definite the criteria of compliance of the non-certified wood purchased by FSC certified companies with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles. In the Komi Republic having a rapidly developing FSC certification process there are a lot of certified companies which need a good tool for risk assessment for the part of wood purchased from non-certified suppliers. This wood should pass the test for exclusion of illegal wood or wood harvested with violation of traditional and civil rights of the local population or cut in the high conservation value forest. Such controlling tool – national risk assessment for the controlled wood – is developed at the federal level. However, due to the fact that regions have some specific features, it’s required to assess the risks at the level of regions themselves – those, where it’s especially important, with their further integration into the national risk assessment.

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From the results of 2012 expeditions to the implementation of 2013 plans

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The results of the summer and autumn expeditions along the Mezen and its tributaries organized within the frameworks of the “Model river Mezen” project were presented at another meeting of the project Working group conducted on October 18th.

The results and conclusions of the summer overview expedition conducted in 2012 down the Mezen – from the mouth of the river Pyis to the Mezen bay – were introduced to the Working group members by Yury Pautov, leader of this expedition. It’s already the third overview expedition carried out within the frameworks of the project and jointly organized by the project partners – Silver Taiga Foundation, Federal State Institution “Komirybvod”, Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Center, Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and local community “Udorachi”. During this expedition the residual part of the Mezen including some of its tributaries was passed through and now the project participants can build a complete picture of the current condition of the river, its resources, and life on its banks. Based on this picture, the monitoring data, and the results of the meetings with the local population, project plans both for the nearest years and long-term perspective will be adjusted.

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14 June 2017 – The Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development was entered to the register of “non-profit organizations exercising functions of a foreign agent” by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation


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