Illegal logging

RECOMMENDED MEASURES TO REDUCE ILLEGAL LOGGING

public supervision and control of the execution of these decisions.

Reducing illegal logging requires effectively addressing macroeconomic challenges beyond the forest sector, especially the problems of unemployment and low incomes in rural areas. 108 A number of steps can be taken, however, to help improve enforcement and make progress towards halting the destruction of Russia’s remarkable forest heritage: • Establish a public council under the auspices of the Government of Russia that works with the active participation of a coalition of leading environmental organizations and that has the authority to monitor and control forest management. • Maximize the openness and transparency of forest legal documentation as well as information about obtaining the right to use and manage forest resources. Make this information public and freely available on the Internet and ensure the active involvement of environmental organizations and local communities. The information should include forest plans for each administrative territory of the Russian Federation, public consultations regarding the plans, forest management regulations for all forests across the country and a list of all logging sites that are in use, with geo-referenced borders.

• Register in a ‘cadastre’ (state property registration system) all the country's forests, especially forests with mercantile timber and those with valuable tree species.

• Develop a state-operated e-governance accounting system for timber.

• Increase the number and powers of the state forest protection service. Ensure constant patrolling of forests that are particularly attractive to illegal loggers.

• Encourage the spread of independent forest certification systems (FSC, PEFC and others).

• Prohibit logging, and leasing of timber properties for logging, in ‘specially protected forests’, for example, in pine-nut harvesting and hunting zones, nut and berry forest plantations, etc.

• Prohibit residents from selling timber harvested for their own needs.

• Promote expanded cooperation with customs authorities in countries bordering the Russian Federation.

• Promote public participation in the allocation of forest rights (rent, gratuitous uses, sales contracts, etc.) and

31