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| World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC [PHOTO: Shiny Things] |
Washington: The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a US$ 40
million loan to co-finance with the Russian Federation a US$ 121.26 million
Forest Fire Response Project in Russia.
The Project will assist the Federal Forestry Service and the
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to improve forest fire prevention
and suppression in select forest ecosystems, including targeted protected
areas. It also will help enhance forest management in pilot regions, which
include Voronezhskaya and Moskovskaya oblasts, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk
Krais, and the Republic of Komi.
Russia, one of the largest countries in the world, also has
the largest area of true closed forests, which represent 20 percent of the
world's forests and account for 15 percent of the world's growing stock.
Russian forests play an important role in the carbon cycle, providing
significant carbon sequestration services, including to other countries.
Official data on forest fires shows that on average there
are 24,000 forest fires annually covering 1.4 million ha of forest. Preliminary
analysis of data collected during project preparation indicates that up to 93
percent of the country's forest fires are of human origin. In addition, total carbon emissions from
fire-disturbed Russian forests are estimated at 50 to 231 million tons of
carbon per year.
Most human-origin fires are quite naturally near
settlements, which for that very reason are the more urgent to prevent,
monitor, suppress, and extinguish, given the high potential for loss of life
and property. In more remote locations, many fires may be worsened by
clear-cutting by leaseholders.
Any successful program of fire prevention will thus have to
invest in public awareness campaigns, and devote attention to forest practices
which may increase fire incidence.
“By supporting the Government in its forest fire prevention
and management efforts, the Bank continues its long-standing and comprehensive
engagement with the Russian Federation on forest management, where efforts have
centered on policy development, institutional strengthening, information and
land-use planning systems and strengthening regional forest inventory and pest
protection organizations,” said Michal Rutkowski, World Bank Country Director
for Russia.
Further, the Bank's engagement also provides direct support
to the country's Forest Sector Development Strategy through 2020, a national
policy document approved by Executive Order of the Ministry of Industry and
Trade and Ministry of Agriculture in October 2008. According to the Strategy,
the systemic problems facing forest sector development include significant loss
of forest resources from fires, pests and diseases; as well as low quality
forest regeneration; and a high level of illegal timber logging. The primary
objective of the Strategy is to support sustainable forest management and to
maintain and strengthen forest resources, as well as the environmental capacity
of forests.
“This engagement includes analytical and advisory activities
as well as the current EU-supported Forest Law and Governance (FLEG) program,
which the Bank is implementing with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Through this support,
the Government has come to rely on the Bank as a source of global best practice
on forest fire management and sustainable forest management,” added Angela
Armstrong, World Bank Project Team Leader.
The Project will support two of the four strategic themes of
the World Bank Country Partnership Strategy with Russia for 2012-2016, which
was discussed by the Bank Board of Directors in December 2011. In particular,
forest fire management improvements envisaged by the Project will support
sustainable development and effective protection of the environment under the
first strategic theme, Increasing Growth and Diversification. In addition, the
Project will strengthen Russia's contribution to global public goods, thereby
supporting another strategic theme, Deepening Russia's Global and Regional
Role.
The loan has a final maturity of 18 years including a grace
period of 5 years.
Russia joined the World Bank (IBRD-member and IDA-donor
country) in 1992. Today, IBRD is financing 9 investment projects in Russia for
the total amount of US$ 756 million.
The Soviet Union had a large and advanced forest-fire
suppression capability, using 600 aircrafts, 8,000 smokejumpers, and 70,000
full time forest guards. This capability was decimated by budget cuts after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. Indicators of the consequences of this were
the 70 percent decline in aircraft flight hours for fire control between 1991
and 2002, and the decline over the same period in the percentage of fires
detected by aviation, from 89 percent in 1991 to 44 percent in 2002. In addition, the average size of fires at
detection - the smaller the fire at detection, the more likely/easier it is to
be brought under control - and initial
response time consistently increased from 1991 to 2002 as a result of shrinking
fire management resources.
These negative trends were exacerbated as an unintended
consequence of a major reform embodied in a new Forestry Code, which took
effect January 1, 2007. This code decentralized responsibility for fighting
forest fires to the 89 subjects (oblasts, krai, republics) of the Russian
Federation, many of whom were not prepared for this responsibility.
Furthermore, the elimination of any central authority with the ability to shift
resources in real time from regions free of severe fire stress to those
suffering overwhelming attack, removed the main source of flexibility from
Russia's fire response system.
The consequences of these accumulated deficiencies came
dramatically into focus in the summer of 2010.
Human activities, which increase burning and carbon release from living
and dead vegetation includes the large-scale historical drainage of peat swamps
in Russia. In drought years, combustion of drying peat accelerates to the stage
of open fire, with large smoke releases to the atmosphere.
Some 33,500 fires were recorded (50 percent more than in
2009) covering 2.3 million ha, with a large proportion of high-intensity crown
fires. Unusually, most of the damage occurred in the western part of Russia,
particularly the Central, Southern, Volga, and Urals federal districts
(Okrugs), with the hardest hit oblasts being Nizhny-Novgorod, Moscow, Ryazan,
and the Republic of Mari El. Comparing 2010 with 2009, the Central Okrug
experienced 32 times greater burned area, the Volga Okrug 27 times, and the
Urals 6 times. In addition, carbon emissions from vegetation fire, estimated at
150 million tons, were 50 percent higher than 2009 estimates. Several plumes of
smoke rose to the stratosphere over western Russia, and by August coalesced
into one massive cloud 3,000 km long. In Moscow City on August 7, air samples
showed 6.6 times the normal levels of carbon monoxide, and illness and
mortality due to extreme air pollution reached high levels.
IIASA estimates economic losses from the 2010 summer fires
at $10 billion.