Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

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Polar Science
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Impacts and management of forest fires in the Republic of Sakha, Russia: A

local perspective for a global problem
Daiju Narita a, *, Tuyara Gavrilyeva b, Aleksandr Isaev c
a
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, and the Kiel Institute for World Economy, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan
b
Institute of Engineering and Technology, North-Eastern Federal University, and the Yakut Scientific Centre, Siberian Branch of RAS, 50, Kulakovskogo str., Yakutsk,
677000, Russian Federation
c
Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, Yakut Scientific Centre, Siberian Branch of RAS, 41, Lenina Ave., Yakutsk, 677000, Russian Federation

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which constitutes the northeastern parts of Siberia, holds the largest area of
Forest fires forest coverage among all the Russian federal subjects, and forest fires in its land exert significant impacts on the
The republic of sakha (yakutia) global environment. This paper aims to offer a local perspective for the globally important problem of Siberian
Siberia
forest fires, discussing the general patterns and trends of forest fires in Yakutia, their public management system,
Forest management policy
Air pollution
and their local impacts. State statistical data show a decrease in the frequency of fires but an apparent increase in
burned areas in recent decades in Yakutia - for example, from the period 1985–1994 to the period 2005–2014,
the average number of fires decreased by 17%, while their average area increased by 73%. These changes reflect
transitions of local socioeconomic and political conditions over the last few decades, such as urbanization, the
post-Soviet restructuring of the public forest management system, budget scarcity and declining trends of
forestry activities. These factors are also likely to be an important determinant for the future trends of forest fires
in Siberia, in combination with the effects of global climate change.

1. Introduction to humans, such as those of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and

The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which constitutes northeastern
parts of Siberia, possesses the largest area of forest coverage among all
the Russian federal subjects (regional administrative units under the
federation), and consequently, relatively high incidence of forest fires is
observed in its land. Forest fires cause various local impacts in Yakutia
such as air pollution and losses of livelihoods and assets. At the same
time, due to their large scale, Yakutia’s forest fires have significant in­
fluence on the global environment.
The two major global impacts of forest fires in Yakutia are trans­
boundary air pollution and global climate change. Forest fires are a large
emission source of air pollutants, such as black carbon (a component of
particulate matters, which are a mixture of solid particles and liquid
droplets found in the air) and precursors of ozone (such as carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbons), which is a major air pollutant produced
through photochemical reactions of multiple gas species. Indeed, Kli­
mont et al. (2017) estimate that about 40% of global emissions of par­
ticulate matters are forest-related.1 Such air pollution poses health risks
damages on crops. Globally, air pollution incurs significant social and
economic costs, with a large number of premature deaths (World Bank
and IHME, 2016; Landrigan et al., 2018). For example, World Bank and
IHME (2016)find that air pollution is the fourth leading fatal health risk
globally behind metabolic risks, dietary risks, and tobacco smoke, and
that it is responsible for more than $5.11 trillion in welfare losses in the
year 2013. A specific effect of Yakutian forest fires on the global envi­
ronment is long-range transport of air pollutants to East Asia by the
prevailing westerlies. For example, studies found that events of wildfires
in Siberia are associated with episodes of high pollution levels exceeding
the maximum allowable air quality levels in the northern Japan (Ikeda
and Tanimoto, 2015; Yasunari et al., 2018).
The air pollutants produced by forest fires also work as greenhouse
gases and are contributing to global climate change. Black carbon and
ozone have shorter atmospheric residence times than carbon dioxide’s,
but due to their high heat-trapping capacity, they can strongly influence
the global climate in the short and medium terms– these species are two
of the short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). Studies (UNEP and WMO,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: daiju.narita@global.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp (D. Narita), tuyara@list.ru (T. Gavrilyeva), forest_forest@ibpc.ysn.ru (A. Isaev).
1
The study estimates that 44% of PM10 and 41% of PM2.5 originate from forest and savannah fires in 2010 globally.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2020.100573
Received 23 October 2019; Received in revised form 20 August 2020; Accepted 24 August 2020
Available online 29 August 2020
1873-9652/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. and NIPR. All rights reserved.
D. Narita et al.
2011; UNEP, 2011) suggest that reduction of SLCPs is critical for
meeting the global target of keeping the temperature increase below 2 ̊C
relative to the pre-industrial level, which is set by the Paris Climate
Agreement adopted in 2015. Effects of forest fires on climate change
could be further exacerbated if the fires result in a net loss of forest
biomass, which means net emissions of carbon dioxide.
Meanwhile, forest fires in Yakutia reflect transitions of local socio­
economic and political conditions over the last few decades, such as
urbanization and political transitions after the Soviet era. Also, although
hard data on this aspect are limited, forest fires could have caused some
impacts on people’s lives. Generally speaking, forests are the supplier of
various ecosystem services (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003),
including the provision of food and other goods (provisioning services),
the regulation of environmental hazards (regulating services), cultural
significance (cultural services) and support for the functions of ecosys­
tems (supporting services).
Global impacts of forest fires in the region have been examined by a
number of scientific studies, while regional- and local-level forest
management has also been present for a long time.2 However, the two
sets of information are so far disconnected. As a result, although the
future risk of forest fires will be determined not only by natural factors
but also by management practices, scientific studies often treat effec­
tiveness of local management of forest fires as a black box. This paper
aims to integrate the two perspectives on Yakutia’s forest fires and
discuss broad implications of regional forest fire management and local
impacts of forest fires for the global environment. This is a socially
highly relevant issue given the concern that the health of boreal forests,
those of Yakutia included, may become worsened due to combined ef­
fects of environmental changes and poor forest management (e.g.,
Gauthier et al., 2015; Veira et al., 2016). In the paper, we identify and
discuss underlying socioeconomic drivers for incidence and patterns of
forest fires in Yakutia in recent decades, such as urbanization, the
post-Soviet restructuring of the public forest management system,
budget scarcity and declining trends of forestry activities. These are
likely to be reflected in the general trends of forest fires in Yakutia,
namely a decrease in the frequency but an apparent increase in burned
areas in recent decades.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 summarizes
the status of forests and forest fires in Yakutia, and Section 3 describes
the public management system of forest fires for the region. Section 4
reviews information on local impacts of forest fires. Section 5 presents a
discussion and conclusion.
2. Status of forest and forest fires in Yakutia
2.1. Forests in Yakutia
With its area of 3,083,523 square kilometers, the Republic of Sakha is
the largest subnational administrative unit by area both in Russia and in
the world. Today, its population, which amounts to about one million, is
concentrated in the cities, especially in its capital Yakutsk. The average
income level of Yakutia is relatively high among those of other Russian
federal subjects. The main industry of Yakutia is the mining of natural
resources, such as gold, diamond and natural gas, and importance of
forestry as industry is low (less than 1% of Gross Regional Product).
However, in seven regions out of 34 municipal districts of Yakutia
(Aldansky, Amginsky, Ust-Maysky, Suntarsky, Olyokminsky, Mirninsky
and Lensky), forestry is an important industry, providing and exporting
woods in and outside of all regions of the Republic (See Fig. 1).
2
For example, an English description of Russia’s current legal framework on
forest management is given by Isaev and Korovin (2013).
2
Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573
The forestry industry shrank sharply during the transition from a
planned to a market economy in Russia. In 1990–2000, the production
of merchantable wood3 decreased by 8 times, lumber by 5 times due to a
sharp reduction in public subsidies and sales contracts, as well as a rapid
increase in the cost of transporting timber (See Fig. 2). Only from the
beginning of the 2000s, forestry began to recover, mainly in regions
where the transport network (automobile roads and river routes) allows
for delivery of wood to domestic and extra regional consumers.
Forests in Yakutia are not only important for commercial forestry but
also irreplaceable for people living there, because the forests are the
place of living for people, and fostering reindeers and horses, and
providing local people with berries and mushrooms.
In terms of vegetation, the land of Yakutia could be classified into
three categories, permafrost coverage (tundra) in the Arctic, forest-
tundra in the north, and Taiga forests in the middle and the south.
Coverage of these forests of Yakutia constitutes about 20% of the total
forest coverage in Russia (see Table 1). Note that “forestland” in Table 1
means all areas under the control of the public forest management
system (forest fund) and may include non-tree-covered areas such as
lakes, forest roads, clearings, natural meadows, and steppes. Despite
significant changes of local socioeconomic conditions and of the politi­
cal system over the last few decades, the forest coverage has remained
relatively unchanged throughout the years, about 260 million ha (ac­
cording to the official statistics by the Department of Forest Relations of
the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 2019). Forests in Yakutia are domi­
nated by larch, whereas some amounts of fir and pine are also found in
the south.
Since forests on permafrost in Russian Far East is maintained under
severe climate, their productivity is low (Pozdnyakov et al., 1969;
Troeva et al., 2010; Isaev, 2011). However, due to their large size, they
play important roles for global climate, and they provide various
ecosystem services and also place for people’s lives. Global influence of
Sakha forests is important. The northeastern part of Russia is located on
permafrost which is the largest and deepest in the world (Pozdnyakov,
1986). Larch forests on the permafrost are maintained through inter­
action between vegetation and permafrost, and their areal extent is
extremely large, covering 12% of the world forest area. It has been
known that permafrost in central Sakha contains a large amount of ice in
it (Nekrasov, 1984; Bosikov, 1991). Therefore, once it melts, depression
is made, and it is highly possible to cause thermokarst (i.e., irregular
ground surface as a result of permafrost thaws), resulting in more sub­
sidence and wetland (namely forest changes to wetland) (Pozdnyakov,
1986; Troeva et al., 2010). Methane emissions from the wetlands
accelerate global warming. Forest soil with a large amount of organic
matter on it has a function as an insulator for summer heat, and it
protects permafrost and forest from the melting and thermokarst process
(Bosikov, 1991; Tyrtikov, 1995; Troeva et al., 2010).
2.2. Trends and mechanism of forest fires in Yakutia
Fig. 3 shows the trend in the annual number of forest fires in Yakutia
according to the state statistics. The graph is an annual trend corre­
sponding to the data presented in Table 2. During 2015–2018, the
average annual number of forest fires was 389. The number had some
increase during the second half of the twentieth century, and after the
turn of the century, it declined again. Despite the reduction of number
after the 2000s, however, each event of fire has rather become greater,
and consequently, the total affected area of forest fires has become
enlarged (Table 2; an annual trend is shown in Fig. 4). During
2015–2018, the average annual area of forest fires is about 10,000 km2.
The causes of forest fires vary in accordance with the meteorological
3
Following the classifications of the International Standard ISO 24294:2013,
“merchantable wood” means all types of timber for sales, and “lumber” signifies
sawn timber.
D. Narita et al. Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

Fig. 1. Production of merchantable wood (i.e., all types of timber for sales, see also text) in municipal districts of Yakutia, thousand solid cubic meters.
(Source: Rosstat of Yakutia, Database of Federal State Statistics Service of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 2018).

conditions of the season (year). In general, in 1999–2017, 51% of forest
fires were caused by dry thunderstorms, 34% - human factor, 4.3% -
agricultural burnings. In 6% of cases, the causes of forest fire were not
established (See Fig. 5). A noteworthy feature of this composition of
causes is a very large share of dry thunderstorms. For example, ac­
cording to the Rosleskhoz in 2017, 66% of forest fires in Yakutia were
caused by dry thunderstorms, as highlighted by the statement of the
Deputy of Head of the Federal Forestry Agency Nikolai Krotov on August
10, 2017: “The situation in the republic is so complicated. The main
causes of forest fires are hot weather (about 40 ◦ C), extremely low hu­
midity of air and soil. There is also such a phenomenon as a dry
thunderstorm: in this year in Yakutia 66% of the fires were caused by
them. This is abnormal.” Dry thunderstorm is a meteorological phe­
nomenon that occurs with a minimum amount of precipitation. The
rains do not have time to reach the surface of the Earth, evaporating in
the atmosphere. In such conditions, lightning causes large fires, and the
strong wind accompanying a thunderstorm contributes to the rapid
uncontrolled spread of fire (YSIA , 2017).
Regarding the relationship between forest fires and the human set­
tlement (spatial) system in Yakutia, the following two points of view,
which do not exclude each other, are worth highlighting.
Reduction in the number of settlements through collectivization and

3
D. Narita et al. Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

Fig. 2. Production of merchantable wood and lumber

in Yakutia, cubic meters 103m3.
Note: “Merchantable wood” means all types of timber
for sales, while “lumber” signifies sawn timber (see
text).
Source: Rosstat of Yakutia (Database of Federal State
Statistics Service of the Republic of Sakha), 2018.
Available from: http://sakha.gks.ru/wps/wcm/conne
ct/rosstat_ts/sakha/ru/statistics/enterprises/producti
on/(accessed February 2, 2019).

collective farms (“kolkhozes”) were consolidated, and they were sub­

Table 1
sequently transformed into state farms (“sovkhozes”) (Gavrilyeva and
Forest resources at the beginning of the year (Source: Department of forest re­
Kolomak, 2017). Formation of large villages in whole area of Yakutia
lations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 2019).
significantly limited the role of the traditional economy. Due to the
Year 1988 1993 2003 2009 2013 shrinking of the spatial system, a huge number of places was abandoned.
Russian Federation Previously, local population contributed to forest protection and
Forestland, 1,169,500 1,180,900 1,179,000 1,183,700 1,183,400 reproduction by using dead and dry trees as fuel for their houses. In the
total,
result, the role of humans as part of local ecosystems was seriously
thousand
hectares limited.
Of which – 886,500 883,000 892,000 891,200 The evolution of the spatial structure of the settling and the economic
with tree activity in the Russian Arctic is a historical experiment. The Soviet
cover
period was characterized by centralized governance. Under this system,
Total timber – 80,700 82,100 83,500 83,000
stock, mln.
compression of traditional dispersed system of the rural settling was
m 3 accompanied by the forceful territorial expansion, the active develop­
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) ment of resource base, the formation of port and road infrastructure, and
Forestland, 257,674 256,983 254,753 254,752 256,109 the deployment of networks of hydro-meteorological stations. These
total,
factors enhanced urbanization and the quality of life in the Far North.
thousand
hectares According to population censuses in 1939–2010, the number of rural
Of which 146,732 145,286 143,062 156,674 157,743 settlements in Yakutia decreased from 10,683 to 589 (in 1959, the
with tree number of settlements was 4438), the average density increased by 41
cover times (density in 1939–0.08, 1959–0.22, 2010–3.26), and the area
Total timber 9325 9229 8826 8791 8937
stock, mln.
available for traditional economic activities, including forest use,
m3 decreased by 9 times, from 85% to 9.5% of the region’s area (Gavrilyeva
et al., 2019) (See Table 2). Thus, in the same proportion, access to land
Note: “forestland” means all areas under the control of the public forest man­
and forest use has been reduced. This process was most intensive during
agement system (forest fund) and may include non-tree-covered areas such as
lakes, forest roads, clearings, natural meadows, and steppes. the Soviet period, between the 1960s and the 1990s.
The growth in the number of forest fires corresponded to the dy­
namics of the reduction in the number of settlements in Yakutia until the
urbanization resulted in fewer but more severe forest fires in rural areas:
early 1990s. Since 1990, the average number of fires has decreased,
Due to the extreme climatic conditions, the traditional economic activity
while their average area has increased (See Table 2 and also Figs. 3 and
of the Yakutian nations was animal husbandry. Low productivity and
4). For example, from the period 1985–1994 to the period 2005–2014,
vulnerability of the environment led to the fact that traditional indi­
the average number of fires decreased by 17%, while their average area
vidual farms were located at great distances from each other: 25–30 km
increased by 73%. This indicates a change of forest management ap­
or even 50 km (Argunov, 1985). The concentration of the rural popu­
proaches in the transition from a planned (soviet) to a market economy.
lation began in Soviet times, and this was the result of collectivization
Apparently, the improvement of the forest fires monitoring system and
when villages were formed according to the type of Russian agrarian
the renouncement of extinguishing fires located far from populated
communes. The first stage of the active concentration of the rural pop­
areas starting from 2011 make their contribution.
ulation of Yakutia took place in the 1930s to the 1950s. New settlement
Well-developed areas face frequent forest fires but possess
(spatial) system often did not correspond to the objective natural cli­
effective systems for extinguishing them: A high frequency of
matic conditions and traditional animal husbandry. After World War II,
burning is a characteristic of well-developed areas with a high popula­
due to the reduction in population, the next wave of concentration of the
tion density where Yakutskoe, Megino-Kangalasskoe, Khangalasskoe,
rural population of Yakutia was carried out. In the 1960s–70s, the
Olekminskoe, and Lenskoe forestries are located. However, due to

4
D. Narita et al. Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

Fig. 3. The annual number of forest fires in Yakutia.

(Source: Department of Forest Relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 2019. The data correspond to the averaged values presented in Table 2.

Table 2
The transformation of spatial system of Yakutia (based on the data of the Russian Census).
1959 1970 1979 1989 2002 2010 2017

Number of settlements (Russian Census) 4470 1374 797 796 658 641 593
Area available for traditional economic activities, km2 1,451,759 763,903 390,537 350,797 302,716 293,394 287,506
Period 1955–1964 1965–1974 1975–1984 1985–1994 1995–2004 2005–2014 2015–2018
The average annual number of forest fires 378 545 546 660 506 546 389
The average annual fire area, km2 3510 1034 1174 2434 2530 4211 10,405

Fig. 4. The annual area of forest fires in Yakutia, sq. km.

(Source: Department of Forest Relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 2019). The data correspond to the averaged values presented in Table 2.

relatively favorable conditions for extinguishing fires, the average area
of a forest fires is small, and the relative inflammability is lower than for
the Republic as a whole. In 1990–2017, the inflammability of this area
has grown substantially. In Russia, forest inflammability is estimated as
a share of burnt area per period in the total forest fund, which means the
areas under the control of the public forest management system and may
include both tree-covered and non-tree-covered lands. Gabysheva and
Protopopova (2018) show that with a decrease in population density,
the number of fires decreases, and the average fire area increases. The
value of the correlation coefficient of the number of fires with the
population density is 0.88, which indicates a direct significant rela­
tionship (Gabysheva and Protopopova, 2018).
A similar situation is found in Buryatia, the neighboring
administrative unit of Yakutia. For example, Dorzhiev et al. (2017)
observe, “… the higher the population density, the greater the number of
fires, the lower the area of fires. Consequently, in these areas, the fire
service works more quickly due to the accessibility to fires (road
network, equipment, etc.). They also described that “in remote and
sparsely populated areas, where there are practically no roads to many
places, there are fewer fires, but if they occur, they are difficult to fight.”
3. Management system of forest fires in Yakutia
Forestry in Russia was severely damaged during perestroika, and its
management system has been almost fully rebuilt since then. Through
the change of the system from the Soviet to the Russian Federation, the

5
D. Narita et al.
Forest Code was established in 1997, and amended in 2006. However,
separation between forest management and cutting operations has not
practically changed from what was made in the Soviet era. Those rules
were also established for targeting European Russian forests with high
productivity. Obviously, they are not directly applicable to vulnerable
forests on permafrost in Sakha with low productivity.
The system of government management in Russia has a vertical hi­
erarchy. In the field of forest management, including the measures
against forest fires, federal and regional state institutions are given au­
thority. Since 2007, federal institutions have transferred a part of their
authorities to regional institutions with appropriate funding in the form
of federal subsidies. At the same time, the entire forest fund in Russia is
still formally under the jurisdiction of the federal authorities, which also
regulate all forestry activities. This gap between the centralized federal
jurisdiction of forests and the decentralized responsibility of actual
forest management by regional institutions serves as a source of prob­
lems in the management of forest fires in Yakutia (discussed below).
Meanwhile, even under the system of the amended Forest Code,
some federal authorities retain functions for directly solving national-
level tasks of forest fire management. Among those institutions is the
Federal Budgetary Institution “Avialesookhrana,” which engages in
extinguishing fires throughout Russia. The date July 7, 1931 is consid­
ered the day of the beginning of aviation forest protection in Russia,
when for the first time a forest fire was discovered from the air. Aviation
detects about 43% of forest fires and eliminates up to 37% of them. Up to
70% of forest fires are eliminated within the first 2 days. On average, up
to 4000 forest fires per year are eliminated with the participation of
parachute and paratrooper fire service workers. As a result, inter-
regional maneuvering involves 30 teams (750 people) per season
(Kudryavtsev et al., 2008).
Currently, a number of legislative and other regulatory legal acts
deal with issues of forest relations, including the protection of forests
from fires. According to paragraph. “K” h. 1 Article. 72 of the Consti­
tution of the Russian Federation, forest legislation is under the joint
jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian
Federation. The basic document governing these public relations is the
Forest Code of the Russian Federation. The main scope of authority for
forest regulation is concentrated at the federal level. The Forest Code of
the Russian Federation formalizes a wide range of powers the constit­
uent entities of the Russian Federation in the field of forest law,
including ensuring fire safety in forests and extinguishing forest fires.
They include: organization of the implementation of fire safety measures
and extinguishing forest fires in forests located on lands of specially
6
Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573
Fig. 5. The causes of forest fires in Yakutia in
1999–2017.
Notes:
1PTL: “Power-transmission lines”
2Examples of causes categorized in “Human factor”
are the emission of a spark from a transport vehicle,
arson, and negligence while smoking
3“Other” includes thermal spontaneous combustion
and reignition of extinguished fire
(Source: Calculated by authors on the basis of in­
formation of Department of forest relations of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)).
protected natural territories of regional significance; organization of fire
safety measures in forests located on land plots owned by constituent
entities of the Russian Federation (Shpakovsky, 2018).
3.1. Structure of the administrative system of forest management in
Yakutia
In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the state body for managing
forest relations is the Department of Forest Relations of the Republic of
Sakha (Yakutia) (which was founded in 1939) (https://deples.sakha.
gov.ru/). It is placed under the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental
Management and Forestry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The
Department has 25 branches (state-owned institutions, the main staff of
which are state forest managers) and the following two subordinate
institutions, which are differing in their functions.
The first is the state institution “Yakut base of aviation forest pro­
tection” (GU “Avialesookhrana”) (founded in 1944). The institution
performs the functions of: i) aviation patrols in order to detect forest and
other landscape fires; ii) extinguishing forest fires by forces and para­
chute and paratrooper fire service and from the aircraft in areas of
aviation protection of forests, reindeer pastures and hunting grounds, as
well as assisting forest management authorities and forest users in
detecting and extinguishing forest fires; iii) delivery by aircraft to places
of forest fires human resources, technical equipment and other means of
fighting forest fires; iv) organization of the development and introduc­
tion of technical and other means and technologies for detecting and
extinguishing forest fires using aviation; v) fire prevention and other
preventive measures (Department of Forest Relations of the Republic of
Sakha (Yakutia), 2019).
The second is the state autonomous institution of the Republic of
Sakha (Yakutia) “Yakutlesresurs” (established in 2007 after the transfer
of part of federal authorities to the regional government). The main
purpose of the institution is to provide fire safety in the forests in the
ground areas of its responsibility, to extinguish forest fires, to conduct
forestry work. The main activities include prevention of forest fires, fire
prevention of forests, implementation of fire safety measures in forests;
organization of fire and chemical stations; quenching forest fires; pro­
tection and recovery of forests; development of forestry regulations for
forest areas, the Forest Plan of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), forest
development projects, allotments, taxation of logging sites and forest
areas; survey of forest and other sites, including for cadastral registra­
tion; evaluation of materials justifying the use of forest areas and the
placement of infrastructure; extraction of common minerals in the
D. Narita et al.
prescribed manner; harvesting, processing, transportation of wood. It
has 23 branches and sites in Yakutia (Department of Forest Relations of
the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 2019).
3.2. State program on forest management
In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the prevention and elimination of
forest fires are reflected in a number of regulatory legal acts, such as the
State Program of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) “Forestry Develop­
ment for 2012–2019”. The main goal of the Program is to ensure sus­
tainable forest management, to preserve and increase the resource
potential of forests, to intensify the use of forests and to meet the social
needs for forest resources in a sustainable way. The following are the
main expected results stated in the Program:
1. Implementation of measures to protect forests from fires on the
territory of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) will ensure the creation of an
effective system of prevention, detection and suppression of forest fires.
It is expected to minimize forest damage and the occurrence of cata­
strophic forest fires and to effectively prevent human death and damage
to settlements.
2. A further development, based on modern means of observation
and information resources, will be obtained by a fire hazard monitoring
system in forests and forest fires, the results of which will significantly
improve public awareness, the speed of its alert and firefighting services
about fire hazards in forests and forest fires.
3. The implementation of a complex of preventive measures, the
strengthening of personnel and material-technical base of fire services,
the provision of inter-regional maneuvering for forest fire formations
and fire equipment will raise the performance indicators for extin­
guishing forest fires.
In 2017, this state program was dissolved, as all its tasks and activ­
ities in the field of forest relations were integrated in a new state pro­
gram of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) “Ensuring environmental
safety, rational use of natural resources and the development of forestry
in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for the years 2018–2022.”
3.3. Financing of the state system of forest management
Data on the financing of the state system of forest relations man­
agement are available for 2006–2017, except for 2014–2015 (for these
years, budget reports are not available). As the data show, the transfer of
part of the powers to the regional government led to an increase in
spending on the implementation of state policy on the part of Yakutia
(see Fig. 6). The share of Yakutia’s budget in the funding of state forest
management was 6% in 2008 and was increased to 33% in 2017, while
the share of non-budget sources, such as revenues from forest leasing,
reached 21% in 2017 (this is a reflection of the decision of the Supreme
Court of Yakutia in 2016, to be discussed in Section 4 below). As the
amount of financing grows, the share of administrative expenses
(maintenance of the Department of Forestry Relations) has decreased –
currently it amounts to 4–5% of the total amount of state program
financing. In 2019, an increase in subsidies from the federal budget for
the execution of delegated authority in the field of forest relations of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) to 873.6 million rubles is expected (Yakutia.
info, 2018).
The costs of state forest management in Yakutia are extremely low
compared to Russia as a whole. In 2013–2017 expenses for 1 sq. km.
forest reserves in Yakutia were 6–9 times lower than in Russia as a whole
(See Fig. 7). Only in 2019–2020, an increase in funding is expected, and
then the disproportion will be reduced to 4–5 times.
At the same time, the Department receives income from the lease of
forests. In 2016, the payments for the use of the forest fund with the plan
of 1.9 rubles/ha were exceeded and amounted to 3 rubles/ha. In 2017,
the amount reached 3.6 rubles/ha. In 2014, revenues received by the
Department of Forestry from the provision of forest plots for permanent
(perpetual) use and rent amounted to 692.2 million rubles. This amount
7
Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573
is about 60–65% of its annual budget of the Department – the rest comes
from transfers from the federal budget and the budget of the Republic of
Sakha. The main income for the Department is generated by mining
companies (53%), as well as transport and infrastructure companies
(construction, reconstruction, operation of communication lines, roads,
pipelines and other linear facilities) (39%).
According to Shpakovsky (2018), the regions are allocated almost 4
times less funds than they need based on official estimations and 2 times
less based on the average actual costs per unit amount of work. As a
result, the amount of funding of the Russian regions does not correspond
to the amount of expenditures for the implementation of measures
calculated based on the regional Forest Plan and the applicable cost
standards approved by the regulatory legal acts of the regions (Shpa­
kovsky, 2018).
Overall, the forest management system in Russia is not effective,
even when compared to the Soviet period. This was partly due to the
adoption of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation in 2006. As dis­
cussed above, under the system of the Forest Code, regional govern­
ments carry out a large part of tasks of forest management based on
federal subsidies, but these subsidies may not always be sufficient. The
Forest Code also emphasizes the role of private entities using forests for a
fee, but this system of privatization could become an additional source
of problems on forest management. As negative factors of the Russian
system of forest management, Isaev and Korovin (2009) point out the
following:
1) State “leshozes” (forest enterprises) were liquidated; protection and
reproduction of forests transferred to private companies. At the time
of liquidation, only 20% of forests were transferred to private leas­
ing, and the rest became abandoned;
2) Forest protection staff were reduced from 200,000 to 20,000 people
in Russia. Most experts believe that this is the main cause of forest
degradation, the loss of their economic, social and environmental
values; in Yakutia, in 1996–2018, the forest protection staff reduced
from 2105 to 1264 people (reduced by 40%). This means that in
1996–2009, the area of forestland of Yakutia per one worker (forest
inspector) has grown from 1221 sq. km to 2066 sq. km. or 1.7 times.
In 2013, the figure was slightly decreased to 2021 sq. km per
employee (1267 people), and in 2018, it became 1613 sq. km per
worker (1588 people);
3) The state actually refused to finance forest management, protection
and reproduction of forests;
4) Functions of forestry, including measures for the conservation and
protection of forests, are transferred to private entities by auctions.
This incentivized businesses not to take care of forest fires, the spread
of pests and forest diseases, and sanitary felling.
Thus, the modern level of protection of forests from fires and the
range of measures taken for their fire prevention arrangement do not
fully ensure the ecological integrity of forest ecosystems and preserve
their ecological functions (Gabysheva and Protopopova, 2018).
International forestry standards dictate new requirements for
determining the ecological value of forests. The rules of forestry in
Russia practically do not take into account the need to preserve bio­
logical and landscape diversity - one of the conditions for the preser­
vation of ecosystems in a sustainable state. It is necessary to create
standards to preserve natural diversity in conditions of intensive forest
use. The territory of Russia is very large, and the natural conditions are
diverse; therefore, we need regional criteria for selecting protected
forests that can take into account the specific features of the territory for
which the planning is made. For a long time, the priority task of nature
protection activity has been the preservation of species diversity, and
more specifically, rare species for certain territories. Now, priorities
have shifted towards preserving diversity at the levels of communities
and landscapes (Romanyuk et al., 2006).
D. Narita et al. Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

Fig. 6. Funding of the state forest management system (in Yakutia only), thousand rubles.
(Source: Calculated by authors on the basis of information of Department of Forest Relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)).

Fig. 7. Per-area costs of forest state programs in

Yakutia and in Russia as whole, rubles per km2.
(Sources: 1. State Program of the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia) “Forestry Development for 2012–2019”,
approved by the Decree of the Head of the RS (Y) of
April 4, 2013, N◦ 1996; 2. State program of the Re­
public of Sakha (Yakutia) “Ensuring environmental
safety, rational use of natural resources and the
development of forestry in the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia) for 2018–2022 years”, approved by the
Decree of the Head of the RS (Y) of December 15,
2017 N 2280).

4. Local human impacts of forest fires in Yakutia
Forests are linked to various aspects of life for people in Yakutia, and
thus forest fires should have a broad range of impacts on the people’s
lives. Data and knowledge on this aspect are, however, seriously limited.
Still, it is possible to at least identify the following two factors of im­
pacts, the direct financial losses and the health impacts.
Fig. 8 shows the trends in the amounts of direct damage costs of
forest fires and expenses for extinguishing forest fires. The costs of
extinguishing a forest fire and direct damage are weakly correlated. In a
number of years, the cost of extinguishing a fire exceeded direct damage.
Sometimes, an increase in fire extinguishing costs comes together with

4.1. Direct financial losses (costs of fire control, etc.)

In the legal framework of Russia (Forest Code), the total damage

from forest fires includes the following:

1. Direct damage (losses of forests including wood losses and death of a

young forest and plantings)
2. The cost of extinguishing forest fires
3. Expenses for clearing the territory (bringing the territory to a con­
dition suitable for further use)

There is no public mechanism of compensation for direct damage

caused on privately owned forests. The affected forest is restored
through the implementation of state program (the Department of Forest
Relations is the manager of budgetary funds, and the autonomous
institution “Yakutlesresurs” of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) imple­
ments the program). Fire extinguishing costs are also financed at the Fig. 8. Trends in the amounts of direct damage costs of forest fires and of the
expense of the state program (the Forestry Department is the manager of expenses for extinguishing forest fires in Yakutia.
budget funds, and the program is implemented by the autonomous Note: “PPP” stands for purchasing power parity
institution “Yakutlesresurs» of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the (Source: Calculated by authors on the basis of information of Department of
Yakutsk Base of Aviation Protection of Forests). forest relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)).

8
D. Narita et al. Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

an increase in direct damage, for example, as seen in 2011 and in Table 3

2013–2014. The level of expenditure on firefighting is often determined Events of exceedance of the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) for at­
by the capabilities of the state. Since 2014, the costs of extinguishing mospheric carbon monoxide in Yakutia during 2015–August 2018 (Source:
fires have been reduced due to lack of budgetary funds (financial crisis). Ignat’eva, 2018).
Since 2017, the strategy for forest fires has changed. The Department of Date of Time Settlement Data values, mg/
Forest Relations record all fires, but they will be extinguished if they observation m3
threaten the settlements. 1. August 27, 2015 Nizhny Kuranakh 10.5 ± 0.6
Since 2016, the damage in the form of expenses for extinguishing of Tommot 10.2 ± 0.6
forest fire is partially covered by non-budget sources in accordance with Aldan 9.5 ± 0.6
2. June 21, 2018 Khandyga 8.80
the decision of the Supreme Court of Yakutia. The Department of Forest 3. July 4, 2018 Namtsy 9.00
Relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) filed a lawsuit against the 4. July 5, 2018 Bulus 9.00
Public Joint Stock Company Yakutskenergo for compensation for dam­ 5. July 9, 2018 Khandyga 7.34
age caused to forestry in the form of fire extinguishing costs in the Maya 5.55
6. July 10, 2018 Suola 24.98
amount of 286,140.49 rubles. In support of the claims, the plaintiff
Nizhny Bestyakh 11.01
indicated that on May 8, 2016, a forest fire was detected. The fire was 7. July 14, 2018 Namtsy (Namsky 13.21
extinguished on May 10 by forces of the Yakutsk Forest Aviation Pro­ district)
tection Base and the State autonomous institution “Yakutlesresurs”. The Stolby (Namsky 8.16
fire area was 70 ha (forestlands). The cause of the fire was a break in the district)
Tumul (Namsky 9.44
wires of a high-voltage power line belonging to the defendant. The
district)
defendant appealed against the decision. At the Judicial Collegium for 8. July 14, 2018 6:00 p.m. Yakutsk* 9.11
Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the 7:00 p.m. 11.20
decision was left unchanged for the following reason: Being held 9. July 21, 2018 11:00 a. Sangar 14.00
m.
responsible for violation of the forest legislation implies the obligation
to eliminate the disturbance and to compensate for the caused damage. Note: The current Russian standards determine that the maximum one-time
According to Article 100 of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, MAC = 5 mg/m3 and the average daily MAC = 3 mg/m3 for carbon monoxid
persons who have caused damage to forests should reimburse it volun­
tarily or in court (Supreme Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), - The landscape impeding the air circulation protects the settlement
2016). from strong winds (for example, mountain-lowland reliefs), which is
important for the comfort of residents of the North. However, in
4.2. Health effects combination with the characteristics of the climate, this contributes
to the stagnation of air at an extremely low dispersing ability. This
Forest fires can cause a number of local health effects through air negatively affects the atmosphere of large northern cities, both in
pollution and others. Although data are scarce, there are some in­ winter (fogs) and in summer, when smog from forest fires disperses
dications that forest fires have some influence on people’s health in for a long time (Efimova et al., 2010).
Yakutia. - Long-term chronic inhalation exposure of carbon monoxide (CO)
In 2014–2018, the total number of observations of ambient air by from forest fires leads to an increase in the incidence of respiratory
Rospotrebnadzor was 1919. Only in 18 cases, the maximum allowable diseases in the population (Sidorov and Sanzhieva, 2018). People
concentrations (MAC), which was determined by the Resolution of the who are especially affected by smog are children from 0 to 18 years
Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation of February 04, old and people over 65 years old. The maximum risk of acute effects
2008 N◦ 6 (2008), was exceeded (less than 1%) for carbon monoxide, for the respiratory and circulatory organs increases with growth of
the most important air pollutant for the region. Consequently, it could pollutants (suspended matter and CO) concentration in the atmo­
be said that atmosphere in the region was not under pressure by wild sphere. Short-term inhalation effects of smog caused by forest fires
fires or any other factors (Ignat’eva, 2018: See Table 3). are manifested in an increase in the morbidity of people at risk
At the same time, there is some anecdotal evidence that there is an (Rukavishnikov et al., 2013).
increase in public calls for medical help during the forest fires located - Also, the health of the population is adversely affected by abnormally
near populated areas. For example, it is reported, “According to the hot weather, which is the cause of forest fires. Compared to August
Ministry of Health of Yakutia, there were 43 complaints of ill health due 2009, in August 2010 mortality increased throughout the country by
to smoke and smog from forest fires, including 39 in the city of Yakutsk 27.4%. Into 22 territories fallen into the temperature anomaly zone
and 4 in the Namsky district” on July 14, 2018 (Gardner, 2018). How­ (+50◦ С), the number of deaths increased by 30,000 (Tretyakov and
ever, according to the Rospotrebnadzor data, that day was the only Avkhimenko, 2013).
occasion in the 2015–2018 period at which the ambient carbon mon­
oxide level exceeded the MAC (maximum one-time level) as a direct 5. Discussion and conclusion
result of a forest fire (the starred entry on Table 3).
In Yakutia, there is not yet scientifically based data about impact of As discussed in the previous sections, the Republic of Sakha has a set
forest fires on public health. Smoke has a short-term nature (stays at the of management schemes for regional forest fires and of adaptive
site from 2 to 3 to 7–10 days) in the settlements. The location of forest mechanisms to fire outbreaks. A large open question is how global
fires changes annually, so it is difficult to investigate the effect of a forest environmental changes including climate change will affect the risk of
fire on the public health in a particular settlement. In addition, public forest fires in Yakutia in the future. Global scientific assessments (e.g.,
health depends on a combination of different factors (air pollution by IPCC, 2013, 2018) indicate a clear trend of global climate change since
motor vehicles and energy plants, quality of drinking water, the the pre-industrial time and suggest that this trend will accelerate in the
absorptive capacity of local ecosystems and others). At the same time, coming decades. High-latitude zones are one of the areas where tem­
the results of studies carried out in other regions of Russia allow for perature increases will likely be the greatest. Such global environmental
characterizing the impact of forest fires as negative, based on the changes could alter the likelihood of forest fires in Yakutia, and in turn,
following facts: the changed incidence of fires in the region could influence the global
environment. The general natural tendency of change in fire risks would

9
D. Narita et al.
interact with the effectiveness of public management systems of forest
fires and perhaps also with general economic incentives and conditions
regarding forestry.
There is some scientific evidence that the risk of forest fires in Russia
will increase under climate change. For example, a review study by
Schaphoff et al. (2016) discusses some existing scientific studies esti­
mating an increase in forest fires in Russia under climate change,
resulting in higher risks of droughts and heat waves under a warmer
climate. Also, another study by Shvidenko and Schepaschenko (2013)
makes assessment with forecasts by general circulation models and
conclude that a significant acceleration of fire regimes is possible to­
wards the end of this century. This elevated fire risk would come with a
possible decrease of the Russian boreal forest area in the future as a
result of a general northward shift of vegetation patterns, with
encroachment of steppe into the areas of temperate and boreal forests,
and encroachment of boreal forests into the tundra area. It is important
to note that if forest fires reduce the total area of forest coverage in
Yakutia, they indirectly lead to a decline in the global carbon sink. Also
noteworthy is that a warming in Yakutia will eventually melt permafrost
and result in substantial emissions of methane, which is a potent
greenhouse gas.
Integrity of forests on permafrost is threatened by high risk of
permafrost degradation. Besides, reduction of tree growth rate in central
Yakutia has been reported from tree ring analysis, and further reduction
of tree growth is expected under warming (Tei et al., 2014). For sus­
tainable use of forests and conservation of forests and permafrost, better
understanding of forest response and planning of suitable forest man­
agement are required. These are required not only for forests with
relatively high productivity (high timber productivity) in southern five
regions in Sakha, but also all forested region in the Republic. If we target
only the forest which can commercially produce woods, only a part of
forests in southern five regions are included. However, forests in central
Yakutia on permafrost with high ice content and forests in further north
with low productivity should be also included, because their area is
extremely large, and even if the productivity is not high, they are
important carbon dioxide sink from a global point of view. Including
these all forests, planning of forest management policy is required. In
order to use all forests sustainably and systematically, it is necessary to
find a novel value for the forests with low productivity, and to find a way
of use of forest by local residents, and to take action with local residents.
On April 22, 2016, the federal government made a new law which
give a right to all Russians to use 1 ha of forest free in regions including
the Far Eastern Federal District. Creation of novel value of new
ecosystem service may be possible through a systematic use of forest by
local residents, and it may also contribute not only to global environ­
ment but also to the local economy. Berries and mushrooms are
important natural products from forest for all local residents. Using
those products systematically, and also with an innovation of technique
or new idea, those may create a new business for local residents.
Effectiveness of management of forests and forest fires primarily
rests on the capacity and willingness of the national and local govern­
ments. But it is also worth highlighting that given the global environ­
mental impacts of Siberian forest fires on the one hand and the general
shortage of available resources for the Russian forestry management on
the other hand, an international solution could be useful as well. The
Paris Climate Agreement has provisions for Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), which deal with a
scheme of international financial transfer to forest-rich countries in re­
turn of reduced deforestation and improved forest management. In the
system, the funding nations would earn emission credits for the miti­
gation of deforestation and forest degradation in the recipient countries.
At present, in the absence of established international rules of emission
credit exchange, a credit-based REDD system (or the REDD plus system,
which considers both emission reduction and the other benefits of for­
ests) is not in operation yet, but it is likely to be put in practice in the
near future. Up to the present, management of forest fires has not been
10
Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573
paid attention in the discussions of REDD schemes, but given its simi­
larity in problem to deforestation, it is possible to bring up this issue in
international policy discussions to incorporate it in a REDD framework.
One of the ways to improve forest management and increase the
funding for forestry in Yakutia is the formation of corporate forests. The
natural environment surrounding industrial facilities within a radius of
“Sanitary Protection Zones” (up to 1–3 km) can be transferred to the
management of companies. The environmental management systems of
big Russian companies certified in accordance with the international ISO
standard allow implementing proactive environmental protection pol­
icies,4 including the creation of a corporate system for instrumental
monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions (Gavrilyeva et al., 2017). The
corporate environmental monitoring as part of corporate social re­
sponsibility can contribute in fighting of forest fires also.
The costs of reducing the risks of forest fires include those for the
implementation of a set of measures to reduce the expected damage,
such as fire prevention measures, measures for timely and effective
extinguishing of fires, and measures to restore the affected forests.
Although some of these costs are not directly linked with timber pro­
duction, they should not be viewed as non-productive costs. These costs
should be considered from a strategic point of view - as an investment in
the reproduction of natural capital and the development of forestry, in
supporting economic growth; and as capex in ensuring public and
environmental security, and hence national security as a whole (Por­
firiev, 2013).
Forest fires in Yakutia have a significant meaning both for the global
environment and people’s lives in the region. Their patterns reflect in­
teractions of local and global factors: local conditions of socioeconomic
transitions and capacity of public management on the one hand, and
global environmental changes such as climate change on the other hand.
At this moment, however, knowledge on these interactions is seriously
lacking. Further research efforts, particularly those of interdisciplinary
research, are needed in this area, and also awareness in the problem of
forest fires needs to be promoted among the public.
Funding sources
This study is supported by the following: Environmental Research
and Technology Development Fund (2–1803); JSPS KAKENHI (Grant
Numbers 17K00677 and 17KT0066); Russian Academy of Sciences
(Project N◦ 0374-2016-0001 “Socio-economic security of the Eastern
Arctic regions: issues of interdependence and transformation in modern
conditions. Monitoring, evaluation, development of a set of government
measures to improve it (case of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia))”;
Project N◦ 0376-2018-0001 (АААА-A17-117020110056-0) “Funda­
mental and applied aspects of the study of plant diversity in North and
Central Yakutia”).
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was partially carried out in the Arctic Challenge for Sus­
tainability (ArCS) and the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II)
Projects.
4
ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization
(https://www.iso.org/), which is a non-governmental international organiza­
tion issuing various market-relevant international standards.
D. Narita et al. Polar Science 27 (2021) 100573

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