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Loggers agree to future boundaries Dvinsko-Pinega nature reserve in the Arkhangelsk region. On April 19, timber industry, WWF and Greenpeace Russia signed a moratorium agreement on the boundaries and procedure for creating the reserve.
Destruction wild forest in the Arkhangelsk region
The main part of the territory of the future reserve has been leased for timber harvesting, but now, after the signing of the moratorium and before the actual boundaries are determined, a moratorium on deforestation and the construction of logging roads has been declared on an area of 300 thousand hectares.
Deforestation of wild forests in the Arkhangelsk region
The issue of creating a reserve in the interfluve of the Northern Dvina and Pinega rivers has been discussed for more than 18 years. The problem is that previously these valuable forests were leased out for timber harvesting - while there were disputes over the boundaries of the specially protected natural area, forest area rapidly.
"We signed the most important documents on the boundaries and procedure for creating the planned Verkhneyulovsky (Dvinsko-Pinega) nature reserve in the area between the Northern Dvina and Pinega rivers,- said the head of the forestry department of Greenpeace Russia, Alexey Yaroshenko. -Both documents are the result of a difficult compromise that the parties have been reaching for many years.
The agreed boundaries of the reserve do not fully satisfy either side, but they allow preserving the most valuable natural areas and the resource base for the work of logging enterprises - the main employers in many villages of the Dvina-Pinega interfluve.
It will take about another year for the reserve to appear. intensive work, since further coordination and clarification of boundaries at the level of districts and settlements, discussion of issues of creating a reserve with local residents and many other actions are necessary. In general, the procedures for creating specially protected natural areas are very complex, and this is a very slow process.”
The taiga in the Dvina-Pinega interfluve is unique in that the forest here has been preserved almost in its original form - this is the standard of the middle taiga and the largest untouched tract of flat middle taiga forest in the European part of Russia
Every year the planet loses 2.5 million hectares of wild taiga forests. It is also necessary to protect the taiga in order to preserve the habitats of wild animals: for example, in the Dvina-Pinega interfluve these are reindeer, wolverine, eagle owl, salmon, and to slow down climate change.
Greenpeace Russia thanks for the support of those who, together with us, sought to create the reserve. There is still a lot of work ahead to agree on the official boundaries and register the lands of the reserve, but we have hope that the valuable forest in the Dvina-Pinega interfluve will be preserved.
“The history of the creation of the reserve, which has not yet ended, shows that effective territorial nature protection is practically impossible without the development of effective forestry, which allows the use of old-developed forest lands in a sustainable way, without time limits. central part The Dvina-Pinega interfluve has remained wild to this day precisely because it is occupied by inaccessible and relatively low-productivity forests, which in past decades were not particularly interesting to logging enterprises,- continued Alexey Yaroshenko.
The main obstacle to the creation of the reserve, and the reason for the impossibility of its creation within the boundaries and area provided for by the Forest Plan of the Arkhangelsk Region - 489 thousand hectares - was the critical depletion of the best forests in the region, the replacement of former coniferous forests with birch and aspen forests as a result of many decades of mismanagement of forests.
Therefore, in order to preserve the most valuable remnants of the wild Arkhangelsk taiga, and to prevent future threats to what can be preserved now, it is necessary not only to create specially protected natural areas, but also to develop proper forestry on reclaimed lands. Without the simultaneous solution of these two tasks in the medium term, and even more so in the long term, it will not be possible to preserve either valuable areas of wild forest nature or forest-dependent villages, towns and enterprises.”
On October 1, 2019, at a meeting of the Government of the Arkhangelsk Region, a resolution was adopted on the creation of the Dvinsko-Pinezhsky regional landscape reserve. The new specially protected natural area, the creation of which WWF Russia and other environmental organizations have been fighting for more than 17 years, will protect three hundred thousand hectares of the rapidly disappearing northern taiga - the last large tract of pristine forests in Europe.
The reserve is located in the interfluve of the Northern Dvina and Pinega, in the upper reaches of their largest tributaries - the Yula, Vyya, Pokshenka, Pishgisha and Pukshenga, on the territory of four districts of the region: Vinogradovsky, Verkhnetoemsky, Pinezhsky and Kholmogorsky. Primary forests are extremely valuable because they have not yet been seriously affected by logging and infrastructure construction and have remained unchanged for several thousand years. They are playing vital role in quality assurance environment: regulate the climate, purify the air and reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, protect the sources of rivers, protect against floods and soil destruction.
At least 10% of all salmon spawning rivers in the region originate or flow here, the purity of which largely determines the condition of the entire Atlantic salmon population. Among the usual inhabitants of the taiga you can find brown bear, wolf, lynx, wolverine, and elk. There are a lot of rare species, listed in the Red Book, including the flying squirrel, golden eagle, eagle owl, osprey, white-tailed eagle. The forests of the interfluve are one of the last refuges for wild reindeer, whose population in the region is on the verge of extinction as a result of poaching and habitat destruction.
Residents of forest villages actively use non-timber forest products, hunting, fishing, picking mushrooms, berries, medicinal plants. The reserve regime will allow residents to continue this traditional use of natural resources. Only activities that destroy forest ecosystems, such as industrial timber harvesting, will be prohibited.
The creation of the reserve was preceded by a huge amount of work to study the territory, identify flora and fauna, rare species, prepare a project, and coordinate borders with timber traders and authorities.
HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE RESERVE:
Scientists from the Institute of Environmental Problems of the North of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences first drew attention to the value of this territory at the very beginning of the 2000s. From 2003 to 2009, WWF Russia organized several expeditions to comprehensively study the territory, in which scientists, forestry specialists, and ecologists from Arkhangelsk, Moscow and St. Petersburg took part. In 2008, the reserve was officially included in the Forest Plan of the Arkhangelsk Region, and in 2011 - in the regional Spatial Planning Scheme.
Scheme map of the Dvizhsko-Pinega nature reserve
In 2013, the reserve project received approval from the state environmental assessment. Difficult negotiations lasted six years between WWF Russia, Greenpeace Russia and timber companies to agree on the boundaries of the reserve. Voluntary forest certification under the FSC scheme has become an effective tool in finding a compromise. Only in April 2018 did all interested parties manage to agree and sign an agreement on the conservation of 300 thousand hectares. This is exactly the compromise that will preserve the most valuable part of the forest and at the same time allow timber industry enterprises to continue working.
In 2018-2019 carried out additional research, the updated environmental and economic feasibility study passed the state environmental examination and approval by the ministry natural resources Russian Federation. On October 1, 2019, at a meeting of the Government of the Arkhangelsk Region, a resolution was adopted on the creation of the reserve.
To maintain the status of the reserve and the achieved balance of interests, further joint work of business, environmental organizations and authorities will be required. A significant contribution to this will be the innovative project of WWF Russia, planned for launch in 2020, which will take into account the landscape approach when integrated development region.
ARKHANGELSK, October 6. /TASS/. The reserve in the interfluve of the Northern Dvina and Pinega (Dvina-Pinega state natural landscape reserve) in the Arkhangelsk region is planned to be created by the end of 2018, taking into account the opinion local residents, municipalities and forest users, Konstantin Doronin, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Complex of the region, told TASS on Friday.
“The reserve is planned to be created next year. By the end of next year, we must carry out all the work, conduct an environmental survey, determine the boundaries, prepare a Regulation on the reserve and approve it at a government meeting. It must be ensured that environmental, social, economic principles. <...>So that there are no contradictions with the population, municipalities and tenants (of forest plots - TASS note)," Doronin said.
Previously, the reserve was supposed to be created in 2017 on an area of almost 500 thousand hectares. An environmental survey to justify the creation of a reserve, which was ultimately found to be non-compliant current situation, was carried out in 2013.
What is planned to be protected
“Once again, we need to make sure that this territory fully complies with the criteria that are included in the very concept of intact territories.<...>The goal is to preserve old-growth spruce forests and part of the pine forests in the form in which they once were, the minister said, clarifying that the situation with forests in this part of the Arkhangelsk region is complex and insufficiently studied. - Municipalities say that there are areas where drying out has occurred: there is a lot of dead wood, there may be fires, the development of outbreaks of diseases and pests. There are areas there that need to be surveyed and forestry work carried out."
The initiators of the creation of the reserve were Russian and international environmental organizations, in particular the World Fund wildlife Russia (WWF), advocating the preservation of the unique natural heritage of the Dvina taiga.
Moratorium on logging
According to the director for forestry and interaction with authorities of the Titan Group of Companies (the largest tenant in this territory - TASS note) Yuri Trubin, since 2013, logging has not been carried out in the intact forest areas of the proposed reserve. The forest fund in the territory of the proposed reserve is under long-term lease from eight large logging enterprises.
“Today, in the territory where an environmental survey was previously carried out, moratorium agreements have been concluded with all tenants for the period until the creation of the reserve. They are not logging there,” Doronin said.
As Alexander Dyatlov, chairman of the Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly of Deputies Committee on Environmental Management and Timber Industry Complex, told TASS, residents of the districts are afraid that if the reserve is created they will be left without work. “We have appeals from municipalities, from district deputies, where the population speaks out against the creation of the reserve,” Dyatlov added to TASS.
Trubin clarified that forest users are in constant dialogue with environmental organizations to agree on boundaries so that enterprises do not have to cut jobs. “Our task is to maintain the normal production activity of enterprises, preventing its reduction, and to maintain jobs at the level achieved today,” he said.
The forest will not be closed
As the minister explained, after the creation of the reserve, the forest will not be closed to local residents. “The Regulations on the reserve will definitely prohibit clear-cutting. We plan to leave hunting, in accordance with existing laws, as well as fishing, visiting the forest to collect mushrooms and berries,” Doronin said.
According to the minister, work on an environmental survey of the territory will be carried out in the spring-summer period of 2018, and based on their results, the boundaries of a specially protected natural area will be determined.
Forest users of Pomorie and WWF Russia are one step closer to creating the Dvina-Pinega nature reserve.
The moratorium agreement signed on April 19 gives a chance to preserve forests in a protected natural area. Work on designing the reserve has been ongoing since 2011. However, as representatives of government agencies, forestry businesses and environmental organizations who participated in the long process of discussing the idea repeatedly noted, the difficulty was to maintain a balance of interests of all stakeholders.
Didn't realize the problem
Speaking about previous events, Alexander Dyatlov, Chairman of the Committee of the Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly of Deputies on Environmental Management and Forestry Industry, recalled that part of the population of the Pinezhsky, Vehnetoyemsky, Vinogradovsky districts, for whom logging is the main source of income, had a negative attitude towards the prospect of creating a reserve. At public hearings held last year by the regional Ministry of Natural Resources and the Regional Assembly, the population spoke out against it. Local authorities The authorities were also not happy about the prospects of unemployment among the population due to restrictions on forestry activities.
According to the parliamentarian, the regional government and the parliamentary corps supported the idea of creating a reserve, but called on environmentalists to take into account the opinions of local residents.
Alexander Dyatlov.“The reserve would have been created a long time ago if we had not lost time due to confrontation, since environmental organizations did not realize the problem that the population was against the reserve,” explained Alexander Dyatlov.
Despite all the difficulties, a compromise was found. In accordance with the agreement, forest users who lease plots located on the territory of the proposed Dvina-Pinega nature reserve have committed themselves to abandon timber harvesting there until the actual boundaries of the specially protected natural area are determined.
The head of the relevant committee of the Regional Assembly believes that now, with the beginning of a more constructive dialogue between the government, business, population and environmental organizations, it is important that environmentalists do not refuse to continue working together.
Today we note that we succeeded in reaching an agreement, and we will document this in a moratorium agreement,” emphasized Alexander Yerulik, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Industry of the Arkhangelsk Region, at the signing ceremony of the agreement.
A hard compromise
Alexey Yaroshenko, head of the Forestry Department of Greenpeace Russia, considers the signed agreement “a difficult compromise, far from ideal from an environmental and timber industry point of view.” However, the expert is confident that in five to ten years the Arkhangelsk region will be proud of the created reserve. He also called for forestry to be developed correctly: when the forest is used not as a “natural deposit of logs”, but as a “place for growing timber.”
Evgeny Schwartz, director of environmental policy at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), expressed hope that the history of the reserve being created in Pomorie will be included in textbooks on “the formation of sustainable, responsible forestry, forest management and nature conservation.”
Evgeny Schwartz.– Our position is that there should be no excessive prohibitions. The reserve is needed to limit industrial logging, but there should be no bans on hunting, fishing and ecotourism, says Evgeniy Shvarts.
He also did not rule out that WWF, together with enterprises of the regional timber industry, is testing projects that would “teach the local population to be more actively involved in sanitary fellings, thinnings that promote intermediate forest management.” This, in the expert’s opinion, will help both in solving environmental problems and ensuring income for the local population.
Titan confirms contribution
Yuri Trubin, Director of Forestry and Government Relations at Titan Group of Companies, said that the Group initially supported the idea 
Yuri Trubin.creation of a reserve.
We have gone through a rather difficult path to agree on the boundaries of our leased bases, based on the economic calculations of our logging enterprises and responsibility to the residents of the regions and municipalities where we conduct our business activities,” noted Yuri Trubin.
He thanked WWF for consistent joint work in coordinating the boundaries. The Titan group confirmed its contribution to the area of the proposed reserve. According to preliminary estimates, the area of the reserve will be about 302 thousand hectares. At the same time, the consolidated contribution of the Titan Group of Companies, Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill and Lesozavod-25 CJSC will amount to more than 170 thousand hectares, that is, more than 50 percent of the entire proposed territory of the reserve.
In fact, Titan took on additional moratorium agreements on securing borders.
Together with earlier agreements, which do not expire until December 2019, they double the restrictions on the operation of our enterprises. But we are consciously taking this step in order to guarantee environmental organizations and the regional government the safety of this territory for legal registration specially protected area,” Yuri Trubin emphasized.
According to him, next step will be the signing of an agreement with WWF on further measures to protect forest areas in intact territories under the lease base (GK Titan, Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill and CJSC Lesozavod-25) in general. According to plans, in 2025 it will be five million cubic meters.
Encumbrance for enterprises
The conclusion of an agreement could have a positive impact on the environmental situation in the region. However, from the economic point of view of tenant enterprises, these are additional difficulties, since forestry companies voluntarily refuse some of their raw materials.
Dmitry Zylev.– We continue to pay for the territories we lease, but we undertake not to harvest them. Our logging area, unfortunately, is becoming smaller. Taking into account the plans of the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill to increase pulping productivity to one million tons, we understand that we will need additional volumes of timber. Therefore, we will continue to work with the government of the Arkhangelsk region to find compromise solutions,” Dmitry Zylev commented on the situation, CEO APPM.
According to Alexey Kudryavtsev, general director of Titan Group of Companies, fulfilling obligations to create a reserve will not affect work 
Alexey Kudryavtsev. enterprises.
The Group of Companies has a sustainable development model until 2030. It includes work in the conditions of creating a reserve. We will take into account the factor of the reserve when planning production activities,” explained Alexey Kudryavtsev.
Research to determine the boundaries of the specially protected natural area should be carried out in the spring and summer of 2018. Scientists, social activists, forest users, representatives of municipalities and the local population will take part in the work on compiling a map of the reserve.
Economic incentive
GC Titan, Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill and CJSC Lesozavod-25 have chosen the path of social and environmental responsibility, Yuri Trubin emphasizes. Back in 2005, the flagships of the forestry industry passed voluntary certification FSC (Forest Stewardship Council / Forest Stewardship Council - international organization, which created a system for confirming the environmental and social responsibility of forest management).
The Forest Stewardship Council system imposes additional requirements - beyond those existing in Russian legislation. Including the conservation of forests of high conservation value, which include intact forest areas.
At the same time, voluntary FSC forest certification allows enterprises to maintain partnerships and continue to operate in the European and domestic markets.
International companies that operate in Russia and consume Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill products for packaging present us with their demands within the country. Accordingly, if we offer products to the market without a certification mark, buyers may refuse them, and we will lose both the domestic and European markets. But reorienting to some other markets takes a long time and is not always justified. Therefore, maintaining these certificates allows us to feel confident and preserve nature for future generations,” summarized the director of the Titan Group of Companies for forestry and interaction with government authorities.
“We managed to find a compromise solution”
Alexander Erulik. Alexander Erulik, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Industry of the Arkhangelsk Region:
As part of the signed protocol, we committed ourselves to conducting field research until August. Next, before September-October, an environmental assessment must be carried out. Then we will send the documents to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. And only after this we can say that the provisions for approving the boundaries of the reserve are ready.
The relevant regional ministry, environmental organizations, business and the population will participate in the public hearings, which will be held in municipalities in adjacent territories. This is necessary in order to eliminate any mutual accusations and distortion of public opinion in the future. We will convey our position as openly as possible.
Of course, the region needs such a reserve, and, I think, the population too. Previously, negative opinions were largely due to the fact that business and the “greens” could not agree on borders: correspondence had been going on since 2013. We managed to sit down at the negotiating table and find a compromise solution that allowed us to reach a moratorium agreement, and in the future, I hope, to develop regulations on the reserve. This natural area contains untouched forests, where “Red Book” species of birds and other animals live, as well as rare plant species.
We have now outlined the boundaries that will allow businesses to continue economic activities and utilize the capacity of enterprises so as not to lead to layoffs.
Alexander SVETLOV
