The Russian boreal forests

The Russian boreal forests (figure 19.1) represent the largest forested region on Earth with more than 55% of the world’s conifers, 21-22% of the worlds growing stock, and 11% of the world’s live forest biomass. Over 887 million hectares of forest and woodland remain comprising 52% of the land area of Russia. This area would be equivalent to 95% of the entire United States, including Alaska. Russian forests contain approximately 56.3 Pg (petagrams, or billion tonnes) of carbon in vegetation, and approximately 135.7 Pg C in soil organic matter. To put these numbers in context, the globe’s circumpolar boreal forests and peatlands contain upwards of five times the carbon of the world’s temperate forests, and almost double the carbon in tropical forests. Our best estimate is that 60% of this carbon is locked in peat that is currently frozen within permafrost. All of these numbers indicate that Russia holds almost 50% of the Northern hemisphere’s terrestrial carbon (Goodale et.al., 2002). Russia’s natural forest resources play an integral role in global carbon cycling and climate change.

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