Аssessment of forest depletion in a northern region: Methodology, algorithm, and test results for the Komi Republic
Authors:   Komi Federal Science Centre of Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Socio-Economic and Energy Problems of the North, Noskov Vladimir Alexandrovich 
Published: June 2022

The traditional understanding of forests as an inexhaustible source of forest resources is undergoing significant changes in the transition period to green economy with the sustainable development of the social economic systems. Production plans of large timber plants, an increase in the production of timber products with a high added value demand significant reserves of high-quality wood with forest stands which can generate a high output of sawlogs and plywood raw materials in the CTL structure. Being one of the largest forest regions of Russia, the Komi Republic finds it more and more difficult to provide sawmills and woodworking industries with high-quality wood. Traditional approaches to assessing the natural capital of forests fail to show the structure of forests and the degradation degree of forest ecosystems. The purpose of this article is to develop a new assessment methodological approach to forest resources in the Komi Republic. This approach is based on changes in natural and cost structure of forest stands. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the depletion of forest capital is measured on the basis of assessing the long-term and geographically differentiated decrease in the stock and deterioration of the CTL structure of forest resources. An allotment database of forest resources of the Komi Republic, as well as statistical data on prices for forest products is an information base of the research. The result of the research is a special modeling methodological tool applied to assess the forest depletion and aggregating a huge set of primary data. Topol-L app helps develop a new assessment algorithm; a digitized database of CTL tables is adjusted; approaches are justified, and a representative segment of benchmarking forests is compiled; natural and cost indicators are calculated for forest depletion in the Komi Republic forestry. Forest depletion is assessed, which revealed nearly a two time decrease in the forest potential of the Komi Republic primarily caused by an advance fall in the value of the fine wood – pine tree sawlogs and veneering wood. A proclaimed principle of the uninterrupted and, ultimately, inexhaustible exploitation of forest resources is proven to be totally ignored in current performance of the region’s forestry. A further decrease in quality and volume of the region’s forest resources is predicted for the nearest decades, and a new model of forest recovery is recommended to be transferred to. This can change the existing negative trend of region’s forest depletion and significantly improve the quality and an aggregate cost of the forest stocks. A further research is seen to be connected with the evaluation of the forest resource potential and its depletion, as well as modeling forest recovery at the level of forest raw materials of a region’s large paper and pulp enterprise. It is also important to analyze the possibility to use selective cuttings during timber harvesting, when the efficiency of forest ecosystems is maintained.