4th Steering Committee Meeting

December 12, 2016

Brussels

Country presentation/ Russia PCT

Country priority areas: from 2013 till 2016

All priority areas remained actual throughout FLEG II and remained unchanged:

1. Improving the FLEG planning and monitoring at the national, regional (local), and interagency levels (4 specific activities);

2. Building up human resource capacity to address FLEG issues (1 activity);

3. Facilitating specific FLEG actions by top Russian forest companies and their international trading partners (4 activities);

4. Safeguarding the rights of local communities and small businesses to forest resource use (1 activity);

5. Increasing transparency of action and raising stakeholder awareness (2 activities).

1. Key results for PDO 1

• The modular approach to practice-oriented education developed and implemented, enabling to continuously update the content of educational programs and training aids “on demand” of educational service users, as well as develop new training materials with due regard for the changes on the forestry labor market (cross-country impact) .

• Learning aids (certified text-books) have been issued and subsequently re-issued enabling their use, respectively, in further vocational education, higher vocational forest education, as well as supplementary school education.

2. Key results for PDO 2

• Prepared, discussed, and published proposals/recommendations for the forest management entities on improving law enforcement and the regulatory and legal frameworks for :

forest fire prevention and rehabilitation of damaged and dying stands;

forest pest management;

for access to and use of forest resources to harvest timber and meet the needs of local communities.

• Published and widely discussed recommendations to improve law enforcement and the regulatory and legal frameworks for access to and use of forest resources to harvest timber and meet the needs of local communities in forests of different categories.

• The tool for the assessment of sustainable forest management in compliance with the international practices at the level of the region (territorial subject of the Russian Federation) is prepared and posted on the program site:

http://www.enpi-fleg.org/docs/report-guidelines-on-assessing-the-quality-of-

forest-governance-in-russian-regions/.

• To improve the forest policy implementation tool: proposed a methodology of designing forest sector development programs as a basis for forest governance

2. Key results for PDO 2

• A total of 100 suppliers to the EU market from

Russia were surveyed in 13 regions. The survey

has revealed that even though the majority of businesses

are aware of the EU Regulations, there is a big

understanding gap among them as to the EU requirements

to combat illegal harvesting and how these should be

implemented;

• GIS materials for the Arkhangelsk Region

prepared and uploaded on www.hcvf.ru to

ensure an еasy access for stakeholders to

details such as leaseholder’s name or the area

leased and comprising HCVF, or biodiversity in

place.

2. Key results for PDO 2

• Over 10 PNAs and 30 surrounding villages in 2 countries (RUS, BEL) received training on introducing the model of sustainable and legal use of NTFRs for local sustainable development (total population ca 6000 people).

• 100+ best practices of sustainable forest use analyzed and posted in the Library of best practices in cases (fleg-infobase.ru). Currently over 2000 downloads from five countries (RUS, BEL, UKR, ARM, GER).

• 100 + media publications on FLEG and FLEG-related issues + 2 thematic websites.

• Initiating 11 information, experience and scientific cooperation processes with ENPI/East and EU countries -based municipalities, legal entities and associations.

3. Key results for PDO 3

• A new strategy to combat forest fires Suggested : a

switch from fighting every fire to a more selective wildfire

management based on the environmental and economic

assessment of the consequences.

• Developed guidelines on the methods of forest fire zoning at the level of a forest

management unit (a forest district, leased parcel, etc.) and methods of zoning,

based on rapid assessments of potential losses of social, economic and

environmental values due to forest fires and costs of their prevention and

suppression. Materials are posted on the web-site. (tested in Krasnoyarsk and

Khabarovsk krays).

• Improved methodological support to the school-based forest ranges

aimed at broader involvement of their students and teaching staff into

sharing of experience and information about sustainable forest

management .

3. Key results for PDO 3

• Two methodologies (for a country level and for an enterprise / region level) to calculate a balance of timber use to identify volume of illegal timber were developed for forest industry companies and forest management authorities; a wide discussion has been carried out, as well as a testing at forest industry companies.

• Legislative analyses on opportunities and bottlenecks for NTFP use as well as markets assessment in Altai-Sayan were conducted and the training materials on multipurpose forest management for amateur entrepreneurs were prepared .

• A review of best international practices and standards of sustainable forest management for the production of biofuels was prepared.

3. Key results for PDO 3

• The model of sustainable forest use by forest-dependent

communities is subject to development in 10 villages

around different PNAs.

• Preparation of the forest landscape restoration (FLR) of

its functionality in two Russian municipalities (Bezhanitsy,

Pskov region, NW Russia and Terney, Primorskiy Krai,

RFE).

• An innovative method of the assessment of forest

dependency involving field and remote sensing

techniques successfully developed in cooperation with

Geoville Inc. (Austria) and Russian Academy of

Sciences.

• Comprehensive legal analysis of 100+ practices of

NTFRs use for Russia performed and posted in the

Library of best practices and cases (fleg-infobase.ru).

TatevSmoly n

By stry chi

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4

Factor 1: 27.16%

-3,0

-2,5

-2,0

-1,5

-1,0

-0,5

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

Fa

cto

r 2

: 2

1.0

6%

Yeghegnut

Gargy ar

Aknaghby ur

Haghartsin

Halidzor

Danachi

Yukhary Chardaglar

Yukhary Tala

GubichiNov ay a Buda

Iv anov a Sloboda

Rudny a Viktorinskay a

Sakdrioni Artani

Zhebota

Chabano

Zaridzeebi

Cioresti

Borceag

Alexandru cel Bun

Tsev lo

Krasny Luch

Bezhanitsy

Yeltsov ka

Volchno-Burlinskoe

Ty umentsev o

Sikachi-Alan

Mukhen

Sita

Seredkev y chi

Zahorb

Stry chav a

Kolody azne

at risk stable

Regional Workplan

• Representatives of forest management authorities, commercial and non-profit organizations from Russia, ENPI countries and competent authorities from the EU member states discussed the progress towards implementation of EUTR during a round table “Implementation of the European Union Timber Regulation 995/2010: lessons learned, challenges, solutions” which took place 24-26 November 2015 in Minsk;

• 50 experts in NTFP from Russia, ENPI countries and EU attended a Regional Conference “Sustainable Diversified Use of Forest: Legislation and Governance, Challenges and Solutions” which took place on 18-19 May 2016 in Joensuu.

Regional Workplan

Additional research has been done to get more information about the progress in EUTR implementation and the opportunities for NTFP and integrated forest use development in the ENPI countries:

• Regional analysis on the awareness of stakeholders in the European Neighborhood Policy Countries and Russia about European Union Timber Regulation 995/2010;

• Research on integrated forest use development in the European Neighborhood Policy Countries and Russia;

• Research on Integrated Forest Use Development in the European Union Member States.

Success stories (1) Implementation of Program Exit Strategy: a series of dissemination activities in all pilot regions and at federal level confirmed commitment, sustainable awareness on FLEG issues and strengthening capacity of FLEG experts

http://www.enpi-fleg.org/news/russian-forestry-achievements-problems-and-plans/

Success stories (2) Web-site “High Conservation Value Forests of Russia”

www.hcvf.ru

http://hcvf.ru/ru/video/prezentacija-sajta-hcvfru-lesa-vysokoj-

prirodoohrannoj-cennosti-lvpc

Success stories (3) Diversified NTFR use in Bezhanitsy municipality

(Pskov region, Russia) provides all-year-round jobs

for 15 households:

Initiated in 2010 in cooperation with Polistovsky NR

as an ecotouristic project.

Includes souvenirs production, wool dying with

forest-originating pigments, ecotrails, hobby tours,

winter and summer master-classess, lodging an

catering for tourists and trainees.

Key outcomes:

• 40 jobs (15 of them permanent)

• Community income increased by ca 10%

• Emerging civic initiatives: museum, work with

orphans, public control over local forests.

• Increase of permanent population in Zevlo village

(first time since 1920s (!).

Exit strategy and sustainability of FLEG II - 4 core principles for exit strategy in Russia: 1. Delegating further implementation or support of the program activities

(which can be implemented further) and monitoring their effects to designated stakeholders with their prior training.

2. Transfer of ready to use Program products to relevant stakeholders. 3. Institualization and possibly legislative fixation at the local, regional

and national levels mechanisms and processes initiated in the framework of the program implementation in Russia.

4. Search of alternative funding sources and integrating activities into other existing programs and processes run by relevant stakeholders.

Examples: • Grant application drafted for promoting Forest Landsape Restoration

planning in Terney municipal district in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS).

• The Library of best practices is taken-over by its developer for further maintenance and promotion in cooperation with IUCN (official offer received by PCT-Russia)

Geographical coverage of FLEG II in your country and main counterparts

Information products – national coverage in 86

regions.

Federal ministries&agencies: Resources and

Environment; Education; RFFA; Statistics agency;

Roslesinforg, etc.

Regional authorities: Forestry agencies of 10 Regions

(see map).

Businesses: Russian Chamber of Commerce; NEPCon,

GAZPROM OJSC

Academia and research: Russian Customs Academy,

Research and Training Institutes of FFA, Research

Institute on Economy of Forest Industry, Research

Center for Economy of Forest Sector and Nature Use,

All-Russian Institute for Continuous Forestry Education,

RAS, SLU (Sweden), University of Tartu (Estonia), JLU-

Giessen (Germany)

NGOs: Socio-Ecological Union, FSC, Transparent World

NGO, Association of the Protected Areas in NW Russia

and 20 others.