The hearing “Problems and Prospects of Legislative Regulation of the Multi-purpose Use of Forest Resources” was the result of the National Forestry Forum, which was held in different regions of Russia in five stages. Members of the State Duma, members of the Federation Council, representatives of federal ministries and departments, regional authorities, public and scientific organizations, professional communities discussed the views, proposals,and concerns expressed earlier by the forum participants, identified priority areas for improvementofforest and hunting legislation. The hearing lasted for 3.5 hours.
The participants of hearings focused on the severity of the problem of forest fires, and the importance of effective forest management.
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Ivan Melnikov
Ivan Ivanovich
noted that ”Russia holds
one-fifth of the world's forests, and in terms of the volume of timber per
capita we are absolute leaders“.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, head of the Federal Agency of Forestry Ivan Valentik participated in the hearings. In his speech, Ivan Valentik thanked the Chairman of the State Duma for the fact that he “supported and actively promoted the idea of the first National Forestry Forum”. Ivan Valentik reminded that the Forum was held in different regions of Russia, and “this allowed us to analyze not only the whole complex of problems in the forest sector as a whole but also to assess the problems in the industry from the regional perspective”. He noted that currently, the priority task is to ensure compliance with the ecological balance, guaranteed reforestation and high-quality reproduction of forests.
Chairman of the Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection Vladimir
Burmatov
Vladimir Vladimirovich
stressed that “the extensive forest resources of our country today are
becoming a global environmental and geopolitical resource”. He noted that “Russia
today is an environmental donor, thanks to those forests that are concentrated
on the territory of our country”.
