Drastic down grade of social well being in Forest communities of the Republic of Karelia (RK), Russia

Introduction:
In recent years, the environmental movement in Russia has been alarmed that sustainable forestry was not being practiced in the Republic of Karelia (RK). That is why we, five members of the Board of Directors of FSC AC, visited Karelia in June 2013.

Two forestry operations were on our field trip agenda. They were between the two largest lakes in Europe, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega, The Forest Management Units that we visited in this area are certified through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system.

As a consequence, we travelled by a small bus from St. Petersburg to Olonets on June 15. Olonets is at 61 degrees north latitude. Whitehorse, Yukon, in Canada, and Anchorage, Alaska, are at the same latitude.

Road trip along the M18 in the Republic of Karelia:
During the visit to the Republic of Karelia (June 15-16, 2013), our delegation travelled the M18 highway. The M prefix for M18 means the highway leads to Moscow. It is also called the Kola Motorway. This major highway in Russia has a length of 1,435 kilometers from Saint Petersburg to Murmansk (Wikipedia).

The M18 is also part of the E105 European route (Wikipedia).
The E105 is an international highway. It connects Kirkenes, Norway, to Moscow, then to Yalta, in the Ukraine. My road trip on Federal Highway M18, however, began at St. Petersburg and ended at Petrozavodsk, a distance of 435 km.

For me, the M18 is equivalent to the best highway in BC, Canada, which is the Alaska Highway (ALCAN). In July 2010, ALCAN highway signs said it was under federal jurisdiction along the section through the northern, Canadian Rockies from Fort Nelson, BC, to Watson  Lake, Yukon.

Near Olonets, forest roads provide connections to Shuya Les certified forests. Shuya Les is the branch of Investlesprom holding – the second biggest Russian forest company.

Then another forest road provides a transport link to the Olonetzles, a FSC certified, logging company. It is a branch of Stora Enso, the largest employer north of Lake Ladoga.

During our visit to this forest location, Jorma Länsitalo, a Finn and the head of forestry for Stora Enso in the Russian Republic of Karelia, travelled by car from Finland to be our host. His team, a manager and a two Russian foresters, provided technical support for our field trip.

Russian NGO's conclude that Basic Principles for Sustainable Forestry are not met:
In 2012, the Russian environmental NGOs, Greenpeace Russia, WWF Russia, and the Karelian Nature-Protection (SPOK), did their own surveys of FSC certified forest areas. As a result, they believe the following fundamental principles were not safe guarded: logging of old growth forests having high conservation value; the principles of sustainable forest management, and; biodiversity conservation. As a consequence, the main focus of the short field trip was to view forest practices.

Preservation of undisturbed forests greater in area than 50,000 hectares (large intact forest landscapes) of northwestern Russia have been an important goal of their activities too. However, these pristine forests extend far outside the field trip location for hundreds of kilometres to the Ural Mountains.

Inadequate Social Forestry data in Karelia:
My special interest, nonetheless, was the social sustainability of the forest dependent communities in Karelia. So, my photographic impressions provide brief glimpses of six villages, Kuytezha, Rechnaya Selga, Megrozero, (blue pins 206-211), Pryazhinskiy Rayon, Kuittine, and Signavolok (blue pins 212-215).

A short field trip does not reveal sufficient information about social conditions. Therefore, the proceedings from an international conference about the social sustainability of forestry in northern Europe, has been important in shaping my views. The conference was held at the capital of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, in June 2000.

Recently, life has become more difficult in forest communities of Karelia. Around the year 1997, Shuya Les, the second largest forest company in Russia, downloaded all social responsibility to local authorities in the Republic of Karelia.

According to the research presented by Nadezhda Polevshikova (2000) at the international conference about social forestry at Petrozavodsk, "The change in the responsibilities of the social sphere has drastically downgraded the level of people's well-being." A second important conclusion of this social forestry research was that the small amount of social research data in Karelia does not meet the present day requirements for modern, sustainable forestry.

Transition of the forest economy to the market system:
Beginning in 1992, the forest sector of Russia began a transition to a market economy. It has been a long and difficult process. As a consequence, many Russian experts have called the period 1992-2001, a period of crisis and catastrophe in the Russian forest sector (Tyukina, O. 2010). Thus, the achievement of social sustainability would definitely be a challenge in forest communities of Karelia.

References:
Hytönen, Marjatta (ed.). 2001. Social sustainability of forestry in northern Europe: research and education - Final report of the Nordic Research Programme on Social Sustainability of Forestry. Nordic Council of Ministers, TemaNord 2001:575. 404 p. ISBN 92-893-0679-3, ISSN 0908-6692.

Tyukina, O. 2010. Development of management and cost accounting of wood harvesting
in the Republic of Karelia. Dissertationes Forestales 106, 131 p.
Available at http:// www.metla.fi/dissertationes/df106.htm.

Photo album: Larry Joseph took all the photos shown below.

Road trip on M18 from St. Petersburg to Petrozavodsk (blue pins denote forest tour sites)

Fuel cost on the M18: CAN$1 per litre for 95 octane fuel about four hours drive from St. Petersburg.

Olonets hotel.

Forest-dependent villager near ozero Svyatozero, a lake, in the Republic of Karelia.

Yellow pin shows where the photo shown below was taken at Kuittine.

Not all houses near Kuittine are on the electricity grid.

Roofing in Kuittine.

Ready for winter: Like forest communities in Canada, wood is an important heating fuel in Kuittine.

Kuittine, Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation (yellow pin in the aerial view above shows the photo location).

Signavolok, a village four km from the M18 on the shores of the lake, ozero Svyatozero.

Signavolok, a village on the shores of the lake, ozero Svyatozero.

Signavolok, a village on the shores of the lake, ozero Svyatozero.

M18 highway sign

Logging camp for a FSC certified forest by Shuya Les close to the settlement called Pryazhinskiy Rayon.

Larry quickly gains a new friendship at the FSC certified logging site of Shuya Les.  This beautiful dog chose me out of the entire delegation! Thrilling moment for me! (See blue Pins 212 to 214 in the above Goggle Earth image).