Sustainable forest management discourses in Russia in the era of a global bioeconomy narrative

VERA bite-size webinar 
Denis Dobrynin, PhD Researcher, Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, at the University of Eastern Finland, will give a talk on Sustainable forest management discourses in Russia in the era of a global bioeconomy narrative.

The global transition to sustainable development and climate-neutral society increasingly is associated in science and policy with the development of a bioeconomy, in particular a forest-based bioeconomy. Harbouring 20% of the world’s forests, Russia has global potential in bioeconomy development, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. However, unsustainable forest management that is based on ‘wood mining’ reduces this potential. In the country, sustainable forest management policy is shaped by both state and non-state actors (their interests and values) and governance tools. Non-state actors are private companies and environmental NGOs that entered the forest policy arena in the 1990s; non-state tools are international market-driven forest certification schemes developing since the beginning of the 2000s. I analyse sustainable forest management discourses driven by the non-state actors and their coalitions in Russia. The discourses include the idea to develop ‘Scandinavian’ intensive forest management in secondary-growth forest (driven by a coalition of NGOs and companies) and the concept of intact forest landscapes conservation (driven by NGOs under forest certification). I consider the conceptualisation and institutionalisation of the discourses, as well as their impact on forest management practices in the context of a bioeconomy narrative.  

The webinar is organised by the VERA Centre for Russian and Border Studies together with the Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters Research Community.

The VERA bite-size webinar series is designed to allow researchers at the University of Eastern Finland interested in Russia, borders, and related themes to continue to share research ideas and findings during the ongoing restrictions on face to face meetings. Visitors from outside the university are also welcome to take part. If you would like to give a presentation yourself, or have any other queries about the series, please write to Joni Virkkunen by email in the address joni.virkkunen@uef.fi.