Carbon storage and sequestration in the Russian forest sector

Research on country-level carbon budgets provides aquantitative basis for national policy decisions on green-house gas mitigation strategies. For many countries, in-cluding Russia, the carbon pools and flux associated withthe forest sector are important components of the nationalcarbon budget. Russia has 884 mill. ha of forest storingan estimated 42.1 PgC in live biomass, 29.5 PgC indetritus, and 2.9 PgC in forest products. Between 1988 and1993, carbon stores in live biomass were reduced by 0.5Pg as a result of the timber harvest (which exceededcarbon accumulation in growing trees), fires, and othernatural disturbances. Only a small portion of the disturbedforest carbon pool is instantly released into the atmo-sphere: the greater part of it is transferred into the detritalpool while some is accumulated in forest products. Thelack of data on these key components leads to largeuncertainties in carbon flux estimates. Russian forestshave significant potential to be managed for the purposesof carbon sequestration. The analysis indicates that forestmanagement measures can increase the future level ofcarbon storage in Russian forests on a sustainable basisby 2.0 PgC, approximately 2.8%.