Expertise in Russian Forestry

Objective of the project is to gather and produce information about forestry and wood procurement in northwest Russia and to refine this information to be easily accessible to Finnish forest companies and organisations. To reach the objective the project establishes two information service points, creates an internet service and produces publications about Russian forest sector.

Inadequate knowledge of Russian forest sector and difficulties to obtain correct information have been to some extent a hindrance to productive co-operation between Russia and West-European countries. To pave the way to easier access to reliable and up-to-date information, Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) has launched a three-year (2002-2004) project Expertise in Russian Forestry to answer the information needs of the Finnish forest sector. The project is funded by the EU´s Interreg III A Karelia –programme and County Administrative Board of Eastern Finland.

Objective and results

Objective of the project is to gather and produce information about forestry and wood procurement in northwest Russia and to refine this information to be easily accessible to Finnish forest companies and organisations.

To reach the objective the project has established two information service points - in Joensuu and Kajaani - which serve the information needs of forest industry and administrative authorities of Eastern Finland. In the course of the project the central norm regulation (laws, statutes, regulations, instructions) related to forestry and forest use in Russia will be published in Finnish along with a general quide book “Pocket Book of Russian Forestry”, border area forestry telephone book and practical guide for wood importers. An Internet service with an on-line news service will be created to serve a wider public.

Coordinating organisation of the project is the Joensuu Research Centre of the Finnish Forest Research Institute. Other members of the project organisation are:

• Kainuun Etu Ltd. and Puugia - Centre for Wood Technology of the Joensuu Science Park, which answer for the functioning of the service points in Joensuu and Kajaani;


• Faculty of Forestry of the University of Joensuu and North-Karelia Polytechnic, which are responsible for teaching material production;


• Forest Engineering Faculty of the Petrozavodsk State University, which will provide the project with real-time information and ensure the contentual correctness of the produced material.

Role of enterprises

To ensure that the project directions are rational from the viewpoint of forest industry, forest companies will take part in the project by bringing out actual questions and needs related to operating in Russia, and describing the reality of wood import to other partners. Companies will develop project activities as a part of the project organisation. They will also be the first ones to utilise the produced new information.

Russian viewpoint

From the point of view of the Russian partner, the project promotes co-operation and business opportunities with the western partner and helps networking with Finnish enterprises. The project also supports the establishment of a Forest Information Centre to the Republic of Karelia as a parallel project to the on-going Interreg project.

Sari Karvinen
Joensuu Research Centre, Finnish Forest Research Institute

Photos: Tapio Lindholm, Jevgeni Jakovlev, 2002

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