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 103 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%.