GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation, 26 July 2000
Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
26 July 2000
Latest News on the Reorganization of the Forest and Forest Fire Service of Russia, from the Russian Environmental Digest (REDfiles by Transboundary Environmental Information Agency)
REDfiles is a compilation of the week’s major English-language press on environmental issues in Russia. This news is from the REDfiles Vol. 2 (No. 28) covering the reporting period 10-16 July 2000.
1. World Bank Freezes $60 Million Loan for Russia’s Forest Projects (Interfax Russian News, 12 July 2000)
2. Environmentalists Denounce World Bank Forestry Loan to Russia (Agence France Presse, 12 July 2000)
3. Environmentalists Urge World Bank to Stop Lending to Russia (Bloomberg, 11 July 2000)
4. World Bank Loans Raise Ire of Russian Environmentalists (Press Release of Pacific Environment and Resources Center, 11 July 2000)
5. Huge Increase in Illegal Logging this Year (BBC, 14 July 2000 )
On 19 July 2000 World Bank Vice President for Europe and and Central Asia, Mr. Johannes F. Linn responded to the signatories of the letter directed to World Bank president Wolfensohn. He indicated that most of the disbursement of the World Bank funds will be on hold until the new structures of the forestry administration will be settled. He mentioned that disbursement of funds to current projects will continue, especially in assisting the government to reduce losses from forest fires.
Earlier comments on the reorganisation of the Federal Forest Service of Russia and the consequences on forest fire protection capabilities were released by the BALTEX FIRE 2000 (6 June 2000 and 7 June 2000) and the GFMC statement The Future of Forest Fire Protection in Russia. Latest news from Moscow indicate that final decisions on the fate of former Federal Forest Service personnel will be made next week. A decision about the future of Avialesookhrana is not expected before the end of the current, sever fire season.
The translated wording of the the resolution (decree) of the Russian government concerning the abolishment of the State Forest Committee has been made public (non-official translation). Additionally two translated articles from Lesnaja Gazeta (Forestry Gazette) of 15 July 2000 are of interest.
Last Forest Fire Situation Update from the Federal Forest Service of Russia
The Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service (Avialesookhrana) of the Federal Forest Service of Russia reports the state of fire in the 2000 fire season to the GFMC. The latest report is from 20 July 2000:
Up to 19 July 2000 a total of 14,141 fires occurred in forests under the control of the Federal Forest Service of Russia, burning a total of 616,782 ha of forest and 239,783 ha non-forested areas (inside forest lands).
During the day of 19 July 2000 a total of 529 fires were burning and affected 31,790 ha forest lands. The regions with the highest fire activity on 19 July were, among other:
Arkhangelsk 100 fires 510 ha Komi Republic 276 fires 29,028 ha Khanti-Mansisk 32 fires 1,106 ha
Acording to Avialesookhrana the fires in Komi and Arkhangelsk regions are the worst in recent history.
Avialesookhrana from the National Forest Fire Centre of Russia provides up-to-date NOAA images for the whole of the Russian Federation. The Space Monitoring Information Support Laboratory provides extensive links to sites with satellite imagery for the Russian Federation, meteorological information as well as fire related images are accessible.
The NOAA AVHRR satellite image composite of 26 July 2000 shows fire activities in northwestern and eastern Russia.
NOAA 12 & 14 AVHRR composite of 26 July 2000, 02:04 GMT.
The red squares indicate regions of active fires. For details (enlargements,
other scenes produced earlier or later) the GFMC readers are encouraged to
use the hyperlinks provided by Avialesookhrana. (Source: Avialesookhrana cloudiness maps)
Daily, 10-days and Season Fire Activity Maps of Russia
The Institute for Solar Terrestrial Physics, Irkutsk, publishes daily fire observations (High-Temperature Events) depicted by the NOAA AVHRR sensor on the territory of the Russian federation and the neighbour territories of China and Mongolia (within the range of the receiving station). The institute provides daily fire occurrence summaries, 10-days fire summaries (accumulated fires during the last ten days) and a fire season total summary.
Ten days summary
15 to 25 July 2000
Season summary
up to 25 July 2000
Daily Fire Occurrence and Fire Danger Maps of the Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk
Selected fire occurrence maps, satellite images and a forest fire danger map are prepared daily by the Russian GFMC correspondent Dr. Anatoly Sukhinin, Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk, in collaboration with the Emergency Situation Monitoring and Forecasting Agency, Krasnoyarsk branch. The maps are produced on the base of satellite data (classification by the NOAA AVHRR). They show the fire locations (by latitude and longitude) and the area affected by fire (red signature, size in ha). The red arrow at each fire location points to the nearest populated place. The terms Oblast or Krai used in the maps are designations of administrative regions. Updated fire danger maps are provided about two to three times per week.
Map legend
Coverage map showing
regional boundaries
25 July 2000:
Altai Krai
Irkutsk Oblast Evenkiyskiy o.a.
Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant events were identified by Satellite Analysis Branch meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team:
NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-14 POES AVHRR LAC satellite image, 25 July 2000
Numerous heat signatures (red) and clouds of smoke (light blue) are visible
from fires burning in Russia (Source: NESDIS/OSEI)
For more details on fire in the Russian Federation, Mongolia and China: See IFFN Country Notes. Scientific details on fire in the Russian Federation are provided by the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) report.
Bibliography on fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia:
One of the results of the first international fire science conference in the Russian Federation (1993) was the publication of a monograph on fire in boreal Eurasia, including some selected contributions on boreal North America. The literature cited in the monograph contains numerous publications which in many cases are not easily accessible. To facilitate literature search the bibliographical sources are provided by topic (chapter).
Goldammer, J.G. and V.V.Furyaev. 1996. Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 390 p.
