Russian forest sequesters substantially more carbon than previously reported

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and transition to a new forest inventory system, Russia has reported almost no change in growing stock (+1.8%) and biomass (+0.6%). Yet remote sensing products indicate increased vegetation productivity, tree cover and above-ground biomass. Here, we challenge these statistics with a combination of recent National Forest Inventory and remote sensing data to provide an alternative estimate of the growing stock of Russian forests and to assess the relative changes in post-Soviet Russia. Our estimate for the year 2014 is 111 +/- 1.3x10(9) m(3), or 39% higher than the value in the State Forest Register. Using the last Soviet Union report as a reference, Russian forests have accumulated 1163x10(6) m(3) yr(-1) of growing stock between 1988-2014, which balances the net forest stock losses in tropical countries. Our estimate of the growing stock of managed forests is 94.2x10(9) m(3), which corresponds to sequestration of 354 Tg C yr(-1) in live biomass over 1988-2014, or 47% higher than reported in the National Greenhouse Gases Inventory.

Automated summary

The study estimated the growing stock of Russian forests through a combination of National Forest Inventory and remote sensing data, revealing significant discrepancies with official reports. Changes in Russian forests post-Soviet Union collapse suggest that the forest resources have been well protected and managed.