Presidential Aide and State Council Secretary Igor Levitin and Head of the State Council working group on environment and natural resources, Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin held a regular working group meeting on forest management.
The problem of forest management is considered at the State Council in pursuance of the President’s instruction of July 23, 2019.
The meeting was attended by Head of the Republic of Karelia Artur Parfenchikov, Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region Igor Orlov, Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra Natalya Komarova, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and Head of the Federal Agency for Forestry (Rosleskhoz) Sergei Anopriyenko, auditor of the Accounts Chamber Mikhail Men, representatives of interested federal and regional executive bodies, scientific and expert organisations as well as the business community.
The working group considered a draft report on ensuring sustainable forest management and improving the forestry complex of Russia developed by specialists from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosleskhoz and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, taking into account the proposals received from the working group members.
The report noted the key role of Russia, which is the world leader in terms of forest area: 20 percent of the world’s forests grow in the country. It was emphasised that the forests of Russia have tremendous raw material potential, including uses that are not related to timber harvesting.
During the discussion, it was noted that the report should be comprehensive and interdepartmental, since it addresses issues of forest management, the forest industry and forest tenure, the conservation, protection and reproduction of forests, state forest control and supervision, including the fight against illegal logging and other violations in this field, personnel and financial issues.
An editorial group was formed to prepare the final report.