Major update to the Russian Taiga project: the scale of destruction of Russia's ancient forests and forecast to 2050

Today marks another major update in the Russian Taiga project—our analytical center has been enriched with new information, graphs illustrating the destruction of Russia's forests have been implemented, and we have finally completed the development of our own model predicting the potential loss of old-growth forests by 2050.

Here are the updates:

We have added a graph depicting the future of ancient forests. It shows two possible scenarios: if the current rate of destruction continues and if the pressure on nature intensifies.
We calculated how much more of Russia's intact forest areas could be lost by 2050. At the current rate—about 61.5 million hectares, and with increased pressure—about 92.3 million. This is an independent assessment by the Russian Taiga project.
Data on the loss of tree cover from 2001 to 2025 has been added. You can view the entire country or focus on 14 regions of Siberia and the Far East separately.
We showed what portion of the tree cover loss is attributed to fires, according to researchers' estimates. It is unfortunate that modern "forest management" results in more forests being burned than logged. Imagine if you had a farm and you burned your crops and livestock—it's an absurdity beyond belief. This is the same situation.
Data on the growth of roads in the studied area of Siberia has been added: from 2000 to 2023, the road network increased by more than 100,000 kilometers. Roads divide natural areas into fragments.
We explained the sources of the data and how the scenarios were calculated, and we compiled research for those who wish to study the issue in more detail.

We will continue to update the data, conduct more research, and develop analytics. This will help document the chronology of the destruction of the Russian Taiga and seek solutions to this crisis. We will succeed! We are among the few who are undertaking such large-scale fundamental work today.