Siberia is a prime commercial target for Russia and other countries, due to its huge mineral reserves (including oil) and for the forests, whose eastern hardwoods provide construction material and whose softwoods provide pulp for paper manufacturing. Beyond these direct threats are the environmental threats posed by global warming. It is estimated that Russia’s current 3.9 million sq km/1.5 million sq mi of boreal forest, known as taiga, is only 75% of the original extent, due to 20th and early 21st century deforestation.
The deciduous and coniferous trees of Siberia’s massive eastern forests are both desirable commodities, one for the construction market and the other for paper. Businesses from neighboring China and elsewhere have increasingly sought wood from this region in the past two decades. The kleptocratic nature of Russia’s government has led to such laws as there are being roundly ignored. Based on the extent of clear cuts (which are restored slowly, if at all) throughout these forests, it’s been estimated that logging over the past decade-plus has occurred at twice the legal rate. (Among other companies, Ikea has been implicated in illegal Siberian logging.) In 2014 deforestation due to logging reached 12 million hectares/30 million acres. At that rate, the entire Siberian taiga will be eliminated in just over 30 years (as an illustration only—reality never plays out that simply).
A clear cut in eastern Siberia.
Mining and oil exploration are further direct threats, due to forest clearance for installations, roads and pipelines, as well as local environmental poisoning from the mining and pumping activities. Oil spills are another danger to forests and plains alike. In 2009 more than 2 million gallons of oil were spilled from US pipelines alone. No comparable data is available from Russia. We will never know the full extent of damage done by spilled oil from their facilities and pipelines.
There have been massive forest fires throughout the region in recent years.
Environmental threats are not limited to the Russian taiga. The cold regions of the north have warmed disproportionately quickly relative to the rest of the world, with more heating in winter than in summer. This is altering the life cycle of plants, animals and fungi—the entire biome—and leading gradually to total ecosystem change. Shorter-term effects include a higher tendency for forest fires as temperatures rise and the soil dries out. Pests, including insects and disease, are moving north and attacking trees with little to no resistance. What now looks wild and pristine in photos, in thirty years could be anything but.
Siberian diamond mine.
May 29, 2020: 20,000 tons of oil spill into the Ambarnaya River.
Tomorrow: methane emissions from the Siberian tundra.
Be brave,
and be well.
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