Deforestation in Russia and its contribution to the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide in 1990-2013

The contribution of deforestation in Russia to the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 1990-2013 is estimated using the methods of computational monitoring. It is found that since 1990 the area of deforestation and forest conversion to other land-use categories is equal to 628.4 x 10(3) ha. The respective CO2 emissions from deforestation in Russia for the whole analyzed period are estimated at 142200 kt CO2 with the average annual value of 5900 + 2270 kt CO2/year. The largest contribution to the total losses is made by the changes in soil carbon stock (41.6%) and biomass carbon losses (28.8%). CO2 emissions from deforestation make an insignificant contribution to the total anthropogenic CO2 emission in the country (0.2%). Among the CO2 sources in the land use, land-use change, and forestry sector (LULUCF), the emission from deforestation is the lowest with the average for 1990-2013 contribution of about 0.6%.