The scale of forest destruction in Siberia and the Far East

I have prepared the second part of the material on the destruction of the Russian Taiga, specifically focusing on the scale of the destruction of ancient forest ecosystems. In the first part, I covered the Russian North and the European part of the country, and now in the second part, I am analyzing Siberia and the Far East. Everything is distorted, real facts are "blurred," and people are given the impression that the taiga is growing and there are no problems—apparently, there are only more forests?

Therefore, the task now is to explain the real situation of Russia's forests scientifically but in simple terms. I want to prepare a third, final part. It will be about the research that "responsible parties" refer to when claiming that the taiga is growing and everything is getting better. There is indeed an expansion of the forest "fringe" due to climate changes, but this is presented to us with severe distortion of facts.

So, I want to publish the original scientific works that I refer to in the second part of my material for our headquarters. They can be studied if needed.

The first study is "Fourfold increase in fragmentation of intact forests in Siberia due to road network expansion since 2000." It was published on September 1, 2026, and according to scientists, from 2000 to 2023, the length of the road network in the studied area of Siberia increased by 102,767 kilometers. The number of fragments of intact forest areas grew from 383 to 1,645, and their average area decreased from 4,460 to 1,038 km². Thus, continuous natural forest areas were fragmented and isolated from each other. Direct link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-026-03162-7

The second study is "Peat fires contribute disproportionately to carbon emissions from fires in Siberia"—about the most dangerous phenomenon during forest fires when peatlands burn. In general, the authors provide data on all natural fires. The study was published on March 18, 2026, and it states that from 2001 to 2023, fires in the studied part of Siberia covered a total of 107.57 million hectares. Almost a third of the burned area was peatland. Scientists also confirmed cases of underground burning persisting through winter, with fires resuming in spring. Link: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl2368

The third work is titled "Global satellite monitoring of tree cover loss in Russia and its regions" for 2001–2025. It provides data showing that from 2001 to 2025, satellite monitoring recorded about 92 million hectares of total tree cover loss in Russia. This includes about 27 million hectares in Yakutia, about 12 million hectares in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and about 10 million hectares in the Irkutsk Region. The main factors, as you might have guessed, are fires and logging. Link: https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/RUS/

The fourth scientific work is called "Intensification of fire and logging disturbances in the boreal forests of Siberia: a study of Priangarye," published in 2021. I needed it to clearly show the causes of the problem using a specific region as an example. The data are as follows: from 2002 to 2020, fires affected 4.1 million hectares—38% of the studied area of Priangarye. Logging disturbances covered another 600,000 hectares. Almost half of the fires occurred within two kilometers of settlements, roads, and clearings. As expected. Link: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2e37

And once again, I will publish the study I have previously referred to in my materials. This is a work titled "Restoration of Korean pine-broadleaf forest after single logging events of the 1960s in the southern part of Sikhote-Alin." It was released by the Russian Academy of Sciences of the Far East in 2025. Even 60–70 years after relatively mild selective logging, the original structure of the native forests has not been restored. The stock of Korean pine in post-logging stands was only 16.6 m³/ha compared to 146.6 m³/ha in old-growth forests—almost nine times less. Scientists found a lack of large trees and a change in species composition in favor of fast-growing deciduous species. Key mother trees are being destroyed and are almost not recovering. Link to the study here: https://jfsi.ru/8-3-2025-ukhvatkina_et_al/

In general, these are the data! Both parts of the material have already been published for the general audience, and I am currently engaged in a detailed study of the data and preparing the final third part of the material on the expansion of boreal forests to the north. We will bring this small investigation to a logical conclusion to show the real scale of the problem of the destruction of the Russian Taiga.