Forest resources. What forests are still left in the world The area of ​​​​forests in the world

In the scientific literature, one often comes across a description of the role of the forest, forest vegetation as an integral part of the biosphere. It is usually noted that forests form the largest ecosystems on Earth, in which most of the organic matter of the planet accumulates. That they are of great importance for photosynthesis, for the normal course of the processes of stabilizing the oxygen balance of the atmosphere, the absorption of carbon dioxide, as well as for maintaining soil fertility and water purity. That they are the largest repositories of the gene pool of the biosphere, a habitat for a large number of plants and animals, an important source of wood, food, fodder, technical, medicinal and other resources. In addition to all this, forests absorb noise, many air pollutants, thereby favorably affecting the quality of the natural environment, and indirectly the mood of people who find positive emotions in communicating with nature. In a word, the economic, ecological and aesthetic value of forests is always highly valued.

Various indicators are used to quantify the world's forest resources as an important part of terrestrial biological resources. The most important among them are indicators forest area, woodland(proportion of forest area in the whole territory) and standing timber stock. However, upon acquaintance with them, a rather significant difference in estimates attracts attention. If you try to compare the estimates of the FAO, other international organizations and individual experts in this field, then such a difference will be found quite easily. For example, in various sources, the global forest area is estimated at 51.2 billion hectares; 43.2; 39.6; 36.0; 34.4;

30.0 billion hectares. Accordingly, there are also large discrepancies in the indicators of the forest cover of the earth's land (37%, 32, 30, 27%, etc.), as well as in terms of timber reserves (385 billion m 3, 350, 335 billion m 3, etc.) .

This discrepancy is explained by the fact that some of these estimates refer to different categories of forest area. The highest of them refer to the area of ​​all lands of the forest fund, which, in addition to the actual forest lands, also include shrubs, sparse areas, cuttings, burnt areas, etc. The middle ones correspond to a stricter approach to the definition of forest lands, area directly occupied by forests, and the lowest - to closed forests, which occupy no more than 2/3 of all forest areas and, perhaps, most accurately characterize the true forest cover of the territory. Sometimes statistics also include primary and secondary forests.

Table 28 gives an idea of ​​regional differences in the distribution of world forest resources.

The following conclusions follow from the data in Table 28. First, that Latin America occupies the leading place in the world in all important "forest" indicators. Secondly, that the CIS, North America and Africa fall into the “second tier” according to these indicators. Thirdly, that foreign Asia, which has a high overall performance, has - as one might expect - the lowest per capita forest resource endowment. And fourthly, that according to all the main indicators included in the table, foreign Europe and Australia with Oceania close the ranking of large regions.

Table 28

DISTRIBUTION OF WORLD FOREST RESOURCES BY LARGE REGIONS

* Without CIS countries.

Along with the distribution of the world's forest resources over large regions of the world, their distribution over the main forest belts is of great interest. (Fig. 24). Figure 24 clearly shows the distribution of cold-zone coniferous forests (or coniferous boreal forests), stretching in a wide strip through the northern parts of Eurasia and North America. To the south extends the belt mixed forests temperate zone. The forests of dry areas are most characteristic of Africa (there they are represented by sparse forests and shrubs of the savannah zone), but they are also found in North and South America, in Australia. equatorial rain forests grow in a belt with constantly high temperatures and heavy rainfall north and south of the equator. Their main arrays are located in the Amazon and Congo river basins, as well as in South and Southeast Asia. tropical moist forests in general, they are much worse preserved, and they should be looked for only in certain areas of Central and South America, Africa and South Asia. Finally, humid forests of the warm temperate zone are found in separate rather large areas in North and South America, East Asia and Australia.

Rice. 24. Schematic map of the forests of the world (according to I.S. Malakhov): 1 - coniferous forests of the cold zone; 2 - mixed forests of the temperate zone; 3 - forests of dry regions; 4 - equatorial rainforests; 5 - tropical rainforests; 6 - humid forests of the warm temperate zone

Figure 24 also provides a basis for a more generalized approach to identifying forest belts, which is more often used in educational literature. It consists in combining them into two main forest belts of the Earth- northern and southern, which are separated by a wide belt of arid territories.

Square northern forest belt– 2 billion hectares (including 1.6 billion hectares under closed stands and 0.4 billion hectares under shrubs and light forests). The largest forest areas in this belt are located within Russia, Canada, and the USA. Coniferous species occupy 67% of the total forest area, and deciduous - 33%. The diversity of species in the forests of the northern belt is not so great: for example, in overseas Europe There are approximately 250 species of trees and shrubs. Wood growth is also rather slow. So, in the coniferous forests of Russia, on average, 1.3 m 3 grows per 1 ha per year, in Finland - 2.3 m 3, in the USA - 3.1 m 3. In the zone of mixed forests, this increase is noticeably greater.

Square southern forest belt- also about 2 billion hectares, but 97% of it consists of deciduous forests. At the same time, half of the entire forest area is occupied by tall forest, and the rest is occupied by low-density sparse forest, shrubs, and forest fallow. In the southern forest belt, the forest stand is much more diverse than in the northern one: in all tropical forests, more than 100 and even 200 different tree species can be found per 1 hectare. The average annual growth of timber per hectare here is several times greater than in the forests of the northern zone. And the average stock of standing wood reaches 250 m 3 /ha, which is tens of times higher than such a stock in some types of forests of the northern belt. Therefore, the total stock of timber in the forests of the southern belt is greater.

Naturally, the countries with the most large sizes forest areas must be sought within either the northern or southern forest belts (Fig. 25). These belts also include countries with the highest forest cover: in the northern zone, these are primarily Finland and Sweden, and in the southern zone, Suriname and Guyana in Latin America, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, and Papua New Guinea in Oceania.

Russia is the richest country in the world with forest resources. From Figure 25 it follows that this applies to both its forested and forested area (the latter is 22.1% of the world). The total stock of wood in the forests of Russia - 82 billion m 3 - exceeds the stocks of any large foreign region, with the exception of Latin America. This means that Russia accounts for more than 1/5 of the world's timber reserves, including almost 1/2 of the coniferous timber reserves. According to the corresponding per capita indicators (5.2 hectares and 560 m 3), it is second only to Canada. However, the forest resources of Russia are distributed very unevenly over its vast territory: almost 9/10 of the entire forested area is located in the taiga zone, especially within Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

Rice.25. Top ten countries by forest area

Rice. 2.6. Forest resources of Russia. Compiled by the author. Agriculture, hunting and game management, forestry in Russia. stat. Sat. Section 11. M., 2011. Section "Forest resources and timber harvesting" in the atlas "Russia as a system". M., 1997

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The most important indicator of the economic, environmental and social role of forests is their distribution into groups according to economic importance and functional features (Fig. 2.7): group - water protection, soil protection, protected and other forests in which deforestation is prohibited (forest belts, nature reserves, forest parks, resort etc. - approximately 23% of the forest fund area); group - multi-purpose forests in sparsely populated areas with limited exploitation of forest tracts - about 8% of the forest fund area; Group III - exploited forests in many forest zones ah, in which carried out economic activity and most of the forest plantations are reproduced with the participation of man - 69%. Over the past 30 years, there have been noticeable changes in the structure of forests: the share Forests III groups have shrunk significantly.
The annual average growth of timber in Russia in last years is about 1.2 m3/ha. At the same time, the maximum growth values ​​(3-4 m3/ha) are typical for the subzone of broad-leaved forests Central Russia and sub rainforest North Caucasus.
The age structure of Russian forests is dominated by mature and overmature plantations, located mainly in the Asian part. According to available estimates, only 55% of the total forest area is of industrial interest, that is, profitable in industrial exploitation, and the predominant part of this massif, located in the European North and along the Trans-Siberian Railway, has been significantly depleted as a result of intensive forest management over the past century.
Water resources. Russia has huge reserves of fresh water.
The average long-term renewable water resources of Russia, according to new modern data, are estimated at 4324 km3/year (according to Roskomstat for 2011 - 4331.7 km3), of which 4118 km3 are formed on the territory of the country, and 206 km3 are inflow from adjacent territories.
The total values ​​of Russia's water resources are quite large, however, despite this, many regions of Russia have


Rice. 2.8. Water resources

serious regional problems with water supply to the economy and population. The reason is the extremely uneven distribution of water resources across the country, which is not consistent with the needs for them, their very large temporal variability, especially in the southern regions. For example, in terms of the size of local water resources, the Southern and Far Eastern Federal Districts differ by almost 30 times (Table 4).
The Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts are very well provided with water resources, the Urals and Northwestern Federal Districts are somewhat less well supplied; limited water resources have the most densely populated districts - Volga, Central and South.
Differences in water resources in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are even greater. The Krasnoyarsk Territory and Yakutia have the largest total water resources (950 and 899 km3/year, respectively),
Water resources of Russia by federal districts
Table 4

tab. 7. More than 80% of this volume falls on subjects with water consumption of more than 0.5 km/year.
The cost of the country's water resources is currently estimated at about $800 billion (Table 7).
Table 7
Valuation of water resources in Russia

Rice. 2.9. Gold ring of Russia. Source: http://read.ru/blogs/tag/

Rice. 2.10. The architectural ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost. Karelia

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tourism (Northern Caucasus, Bashkiria) and sports tourism (Kola Peninsula, Karelia, Subpolar and Polar Urals, Altai, Sayans, Baikal and Transbaikalia).
One of the important elements of the recreational potential of settlements, primarily large cities, is landscape architecture. An example of valuable landscape architecture is the palace ensembles of the Moscow region (Arkhangelskoe, Kuskovo), the suburbs of St. Petersburg (Petrodvorets, Pavlovsk, Pushkin), separate new residential areas.
Specially protected areas are of great importance in the natural recreational potential of Russia. natural areas(SPNA). There are more than 100 state natural reserves in Russia with a total area of ​​33,152 thousand hectares (about 1.6% of the territory), including 6,474 thousand - the sea area. The system of Russian state nature reserves is widely recognized in the world: 21 of them have the international status of biosphere reserves, and they have been issued the appropriate UNESCO certificates, 7 are under the jurisdiction of the World Convention on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, 10 fall under the jurisdiction of the Ramsar Convention, 4 have diplomas of the Council of Europe. Among the most famous is the "Sikhote-Alin Mountain Range", which contains an array of some of the most biologically diverse and unusual temperate forests in the world. The reserve is of great importance for the survival of many endangered species - for example, the Amur tiger. Unique are the Volcanic Region of Kamchatka, the world-famous Baikal, the Virgin Komi Forests (the largest array of forests preserved in Europe that have never known an ax and a saw), the Ukok Quiet Zone in Altai, which are under the auspices of UNESCO.
Marine bioresources. Fishing is one of the types of nature management, which consists in the extraction of fish and other seafood - sea animals, invertebrates, algae.
Fish and fish products are an important element of a balanced diet, a source of about 1/4 of the protein food of animal origin. It is not surprising that 72-75% of the world's catch is intended for human nutrition, the rest is processed
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used in fishmeal, nutritional supplements, fish oil, livestock feed or pharmaceuticals.
The main types of marine fishing are shown in Table. 7.
Marine fishery products: ten main types
Table 7

Source: The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO), 2011.

The world's main fishing areas are the northwestern, southeastern and central-western Pacific Oceans, as well as the northeastern Atlantic Ocean (Figure 2.11).
In terms of catch of fish and seafood, Russia is in 8th place in the world (Fig. 2.12).
The volume of world fishery production reached 74.5 million tons, and together with aquaculture - 145 million tons (excluding China - 92) (Fig. 2.13, 2.14).
A significant contribution to the total world volume of fisheries production, which has reached 10.2 million tons, is made by inland waters (Table 8). Two-thirds of the world's volume is in Asia. Russia ranks 14th among other countries.
AT modern world there is a tendency to increase fish resources through the use of advances in the biotechnology of growing fish and crustaceans in marine coastal waters. An important sector of such production of protein-rich food is the


Rice. 2.11. Main marine fishing areas.

Rice. 2.12. Marine and inland fisheries. Top ten producing countries. Ibid

Millions of tons

Rice. 2.13. World production of fisheries and aquaculture. Ibid

Rice. 2.14. World fisheries production. Ibid.

Fishing in inland waters(leading countries), 2008, thousand tons
Table 8

Share (in%) and place of Russia in the world in reserves and production
certain types of fuel and mineral raw materials
Table 9

For the Volga-Ural oil province, which until the early 1980s. was the main region in terms of production volume, a high depletion of reserves is characteristic (in Bashkortostan it is almost 83%). It is dominated by medium and heavy oils (with a density above 0.87 g/cm3), as a rule, medium and high sulfur (sulfur content - more than 2%), concentrated mainly in small deposits. The main license holders are OAO NK Lukoil, OAO Tatneft, OAO ANK Bashneft, OAO NK Rosneft and OAO Gazprom. The development of new fields is moving east: to Eastern Siberia - Vankorskoye (Krasnoyarsk Territory, launched by Rosneft since 2009), Verkhnechonskoye in the Irkutsk Region, Sakhalin (Odopta, Chaivo, etc.). At the same time, in 2008, Lukoil commissioned the Yuzhno-Khylchuyuskoye, and in 2012, the Priobskoye fields in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the north European Russia.

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At least 20% of Russian oil reserves are concentrated on the shelves of the Barents, Kara, East Siberian, Chukotka and Seas of Okhotsk.
Table 10
The largest oil fields in Russia, neighboring countries and the world
and oil and gas condensate production, million tons, 2010

The development of oil fields in remote and hard-to-reach areas of the country requires the introduction of fundamentally new technologies to curb the growth of oil production costs.
The explored reserves of natural gas in Russia amount to 48.5 trillion m3 - 23.7% of the world (Fig. 2.16). About 2/3 of the explored and almost half of the estimated reserves are concentrated in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. On the European part countries account for about 10%.
Less than a third of explored reserves are classified as highly efficient reserves that can be developed using production technologies proven in domestic practice and located in the territory covered by the existing gas transmission system. About 30% of explored reserves are ethane-containing
The largest gas fields in Russia
Table 11

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gases, in which, in addition to methane, there is also the most valuable chemical raw material - ethane, propane, butanes and heavier hydrocarbons. These are the deposits of the Caspian Sea, the Ural-Volga region, the deeper horizons of the deposits of Western Siberia, the Paleozoic deposits of Eastern Siberia and the Far East. About 13% of Russia's natural gas reserves contain helium; in terms of its reserves, the country is in 2nd place in the world after the United States. The main helium reserves are concentrated in the fields of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.
Of the more than 800 natural gas fields recorded in Russia, the 24 largest (with reserves of more than 500 billion m3) account for more than 73% of explored reserves; 15 of them (about 55% of the reserves) are located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Table 11).
About 60% of the reserves are controlled by OAO Gazprom (1st place in the world).
The development of new fields will be carried out on the Yamal Peninsula, in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, the shelves of the Kara, Barents and Okhotsk Seas, projects for which are highly capital-intensive, and completely new technologies will be required for the fields of the Arctic shelf.
Russia has colossal total coal reserves, and in category A + B + C1 (explored reserves) is second only to the United States (157 billion tons). Of this amount, almost half (about 48%) falls on bituminous coals and anthracites, the rest - on brown coals. The main reserves are concentrated in just a few of the largest basins located in the eastern regions of the country (80% in Siberia, mainly in the Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk). The Pechora and Donetsk basins (meaning the Russian part of the Donbass) account for only 9.5% of the reserves.
More than 20% of this category (A + B + C1) is coking coal (Fig. 2.17), more than half of which is located within the Kuzbass. There are also significant reserves of coking grade coal in the Pechora and South Yakutsk basins. Coal seams in the Pechora basin are characterized by low thickness and occur at great depths. Less significant is the Ulugkhem basin in Tyva.
A third of Russian coal reserves do not meet the quality standards accepted in world practice (ash content, sulfur content, gas and explosion hazards).

Approximately 50% of Russia's industrial reserves correspond to world quality standards for coals (ash content no more than 15%, sulfur content less than 1%). The main coal basins in Russia are given in Table. 12.
The Kansk-Achinsk lignite basin in the Krasnoyarsk Territory contains about 23% of Russian coal reserves. The coals here lie at a shallow depth. The largest fields under development are Berezovskoye, Borodino, Nazarovskoye. The main subsoil user is OAO Krasnoyarskugol. The Pechora coal basin in the Komi Republic (2.3% of Russian reserves) is of great regional importance.
Eastern Donbass in Rostov region(3.4% of Russian reserves), despite the difficult mining and geological conditions and the high cost of coal mining, is unique, since most of the reserves and 95% of anthracite production in the country are concentrated here. Mining is carried out mainly by Rostovugol Company LLC and Gukovugol OJSC.
In the Khabarovsk Territory (Bureinsky basin) and in Primorye (Razdolnensky basin), hard coal is mined in an open pit. Since 2002, new deposits have been developed in the Irkutsk region, where the Golovinskiy open pit has started operation and the Zheronskiy open pit is being commissioned, and in Sakhalin region, where OAO Leonidovskoye began mining a new area at the Leonidovskoye field.
In terms of explored uranium reserves, Russia ranks third in the world (11.4%), behind Australia (27.9%) and Kazakhstan (17.3%). About 63% of uranium is concentrated in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Elkon ore region (Fig. 2.18).
Uranium ores in Russia are poorer than foreign ones. In Russian underground mines, they contain only 0.18% uranium, while Canadian underground mines mine ores with a uranium content of up to 1%, Nigerian ores - 0.43%, Australian - an average of 0.15%.
The reserves of the Dalmatovskoye deposit in the Kurgan region are small, while the reserves of the Streltsovsky ore region in Transbaikalia are close to depletion. Pilot mining of the Khiagdinskoye deposit in the Republic of Buryatia is underway (OAO Khiagda).
Russia is the largest exporter of nuclear fuel (about 17% of its supplies to the world market). Russian uranium products are bought in more than 50 countries around the world.


Rice. 2.18. Areas of occurrence of uranium ore, main deposits, volume of resources and share in the reserves of the Russian Federation (%). Source: www.mineral.ru

The development of uranium deposits abroad can contribute to the solution of the problem of providing the Russian nuclear industry with natural uranium. A joint venture between JSC Atomredmetzoloto and Kazakhstani company NAC Kazatomprom operates in Kazakhstan at its Zarechnoye field. Raw materials are processed in Russia. JSC Atomredmetzoloto implements similar projects in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Namibia, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Mongolia.
In addition to fuel and energy resources, Russia has large reserves of many metallic minerals, a variety of raw materials for chemical industry, as well as non-metallic minerals.
In terms of the number of explored reserves of iron ore, Russia ranks first in the world (more than 26% of the world), the balance reserves of the Russian Federation exceed 100 billion tons. Two-thirds of the reserves and resources are concentrated within the Kursk magnetic anomaly. Powerful mineral

Rice. 2.19. Distribution of explored reserves of iron ore by constituent entities of the Russian Federation, %

there is also a raw material base in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East (Fig. 2.19). The explored reserves are dominated by poor and medium-quality ores containing 16-40% iron; the proportion of rich ores with an iron content of 60% that do not require enrichment is 12%. In terms of the number of explored rich ores, Russia is inferior to Australia and comparable to Brazil. About 45% of explored reserves are concentrated in seven unique large deposits, which account for about 84% of production.
The main deposits of the Kursk magnetic anomaly - Mikhailovskoye (Kursk region), Stoilenskoye, Lebedinskoye, Yakovlevskoye, Stoilo-Lebedinskoye (Belgorod region) - are classified as unique in terms of reserves (from 2.4 billion to 8.5 billion tons). Their ores contain 33 to 40% iron; There are also ores that do not require enrichment. Licenses for the development of deposits were issued to OJSC Mikhailovsky GOK, OJSC Stoilensky GOK, OJSC Lebedinsky GOK.
The Gusevogorsk deposit of complex vanadium-titanium-magnetite ores in the Sverdlovsk region is unique in terms of reserves. The ores are easily beneficiated, but the content of iron mined here by the way is very low - less than 16%. The operating license is held by Kachkanar GOK-Vanadium OJSC. Kovdor apatite-magnetite deposit in the Murmansk region in terms of
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belongs to the big ones. Iron is mined along with zirconium and phosphorus, its average content is low - from 11 to 21%. The license for its development was issued by JSC Kovdorsky GOK. The ores of the large Kostomuksha deposit in the Republic of Karelia are of low quality (about 30% iron), but easily enriched. The subsoil user is OAO GOK Karelsky Okatysh.
The balance reserves of manganese ores in Russia are insignificant - only about 3.1% of the world reserves. The world leaders - Ukraine (42.4%), South Africa (19.8%), Kazakhstan (8.1%), Gabon (4.3%) and Georgia (4.2%) - account for almost 80% of the reserves. The bulk of Russian reserves are concentrated in Western Siberia (Usinskoye and Durnovskoye deposits in the Kemerovo region) and the Komi Republic (Parnokskoye deposit of high-quality iron-manganese ores with a manganese content of 31%). The main consumer is the Serov Ferroalloy Plant. The Tyninskoye and Berezovskoye deposits in the Sverdlovsk Region were prepared for production. In the undeveloped region of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, there is the Porozhinskoye deposit. In the future, it is possible to develop deposits in the Jewish Autonomous Region (South Khingan and Bidzhan deposits), as well as the Vikhrevoe deposit of iron-manganese nodules in the Gulf of Finland. About 90% of Russian reserves are represented by difficult-to-enrich carbonate ores with an average manganese content of 20% (rich ores from foreign countries contain 40-50% manganese or more).
The balance reserves of chromium ores in Russia amount to 0.5% of the world reserves. The main part of the reserves is concentrated in Karelia (Aganozero) and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Ray-Iz). Ores are mostly low-grade. The average content of Cr2O3 is less than 27% (in South Africa - 37%, in Zimbabwe - 43%, in Kazakhstan - 50%). Currently, the main source of chromite raw materials in the country is the Saranovskoye deposit in the Perm region. The owner of the mining license is OAO Saranovskaya Mine Rudnaya.
The country has a diverse and rich raw material base for the development of non-ferrous metallurgy. The balance reserves of copper are 3.3% of the world. They are mainly concentrated in the Norilsk ore region, in the Urals and in Transbaikalia (Fig. 2.20).
The average copper content in Russian deposits is relatively low - 1.06%, but the ores have a multicomponent composition.

Rice. 2.20. Distribution of explored reserves of copper ores by constituent entities of the Russian Federation, %. Source: MNR www.mineral.ru

becoming and, in addition to copper, may contain nickel, cobalt, platinoids, gold, zinc and other valuable components, which determines the high profitability of their production even in the extreme conditions of the Far North. More than 40% of explored reserves are concentrated in three copper-nickel deposits on the Taimyr Peninsula - Oktyabrsky, Talnakhsky and Norilsk-I. The deposits are complex, the main components of the ores are nickel and copper, the average copper content is from 0.5 to 4.87%. Licenses for these deposits are at the disposal of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel.
The Udokan deposit of cuprous sandstones is located in the Trans-Baikal Territory, the explored reserves of which are very large (22.6% of Russian ones), the average copper content is 1.56%. The deposit is located in a poorly developed area. The license for its development has not yet been issued. Numerous copper-pyrite deposits with zinc have been explored in the Middle and Southern Urals. The largest of them is Gayskoye in the Orenburg region (8% of Russian reserves). The average content of copper in ores is 1.3%. The license is held by OAO Gaisky GOK. An important role is also played by deposits in Bashkortostan (Podolskoye), Sverdlovsk (Safyanovskoye) and Chelyabinsk regions (Uzelginskoye). All these deposits, except for Podolsky, are being developed.
In terms of nickel reserves, Russia is in 1st place in the world, cobalt - in 3rd place. The vast majority of cobalt reserves are associated with nickel deposits, in the ores of which cobalt is an associated component. The explored reserves of nickel and cobalt are localized mainly in the Norilsk region (about 66% of the balance reserves of nickel and

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cell of Russia), the Murmansk region and the Urals. The ores are of high quality, which ensures their cost-effective mining even in the conditions of the Arctic. The main object of development in recent years are rich ores with a nickel content of up to 3.65%, cobalt - up to 0.1%. Over 98% of the balance reserves of the Norilsk region are licensed and are at the disposal of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel.
More than 18% of the Russian balance reserves of nickel are localized in the ores of sulfide copper-nickel deposits in the Murmansk region, in the Pechenga ore district, of which 13% is associated with the Zhdanovskoye deposit. The licensed reserves in this area are also at the disposal of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel. The licensed balance reserves of nickel in the Urals are owned by OAO Yuzhuralnickel and OAO Ufaleynickel.
The balance reserves of lead are accounted for in almost 100 deposits. Many of the domestic deposits are significantly inferior in quality to the ores of similar foreign objects. Thus, the average lead content in the ores of the Kholodninskoye deposit is 0.6%, while, for example, in the ores of the unique, now depleted Australian Broken Hill deposit, it is 5.5%. In addition, Russian deposits are often located in difficult climatic, mining and technical and hydrogeological conditions, and some cannot be developed for environmental reasons. The largest ones (Ozernoye and Kholodninskoye in the Republic of Buryatia and Gorevskoye in the Krasnoyarsk Territory) contain more than two thirds of the explored reserves of Russia. The Nikolaev lead-zinc deposit in the Primorsky Territory is significantly smaller, its ores are not rich, but it provides more than half of the production of lead ores. The subsoil user is Dalpolimetall JSC. The objects of the North Caucasus retain their importance (Dzhimidonskoye field in North Ossetia in the Sadonsky ore district).
In terms of explored zinc reserves (6.2% of the world), Russia ranks 6th in the world. Balance reserves are taken into account in more than 120 deposits. The share of eight large deposits - Kholodninsky and Ozernoye in the Republic of Buryatia, Korbalikhinsky in the Altai Territory, Gaysky, Uzelginsky, Uchalinsky and Novouchalinsky in the Urals and Gorevsky in the Krasnoyarsk Territory - accounts for two thirds of
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explored reserves of Russia. The ores of many domestic deposits are noticeably inferior in quality to foreign ones due to the lower content of useful components (as a rule, it does not rise above 5%, while, for example, in Australia, the average zinc content in ores is 6.4%).
The highest quality of ores among the developed deposits is distinguished by the Korbalikhinskoye pyrite-polymetallic deposit in the Altai Territory (Siberia-Polymetal OJSC). In the Ural region, zinc is extracted along with copper in the development of complex ores (Gaiskoye copper-zinc). The Gaisky GOK JSC and Uchalinsky GOK JSC hold the license to develop the Gaiskoye deposit. The development of a number of large deposits is complicated by unfavorable climatic, mining and technical and hydrogeological conditions, environmental issues and remoteness from the centers of metallurgical processing.
In Russia, unlike other countries of the world, not only bauxites, but also nepheline ores are raw materials for the aluminum industry. The balance reserves of bauxite in Russia are quite large, but only 52% of them are suitable for profitable mining. In terms of the number of profitably recoverable reserves, Russia ranks 9th in the world. The main part of the balance reserves of bauxite (92%) is concentrated in the European part of Russia; 81% are reserves of categories A + B + Cr In total, the State Balance of the Russian Federation takes into account more than 50 deposits. Seven main deposits (Kalinsky, Novokalinsky, Cheremukhovsky, Krasnaya Shapochka in the SeveroUralsky bauxite-bearing region of the Sverdlovsk region, Iksinsky in the Arkhangelsk region, Vezhayu-Vorykvinsky in the Komi Republic, and Vislovsky in the Belgorod region) contain 70% of the explored reserves of bauxite in Russia.
In terms of explored reserves of tin, Russia ranks 7th in the world. More than 95% is concentrated in hard-to-reach and poorly developed areas of the Far East. In terms of quality, Russian ores are significantly inferior to raw materials from a number of foreign countries. The share of easily enriched placer ores accounts for only about 12% of the reserves, while in such tin-mining countries as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand - up to 100%. The average content of tin in the ores of explored primary deposits in Russia is 0.32%;
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other countries - 0.74%. Due to low quality and poor dressability, difficult economic and geographical conditions, the share of profitable reserves is less than 25% of explored reserves. Explored reserves are concentrated in more than 200 fields. The main ones are Churpunna, Tirekhtyakh and Deputatskoye in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), objects of the Komsomolsk ore district in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Khingan deposit in the Jewish Autonomous Region.
The Tirekhtyah placer contains more than 4% of the explored reserves of tin in Russia. Small in terms of reserves, the primary Churpunna deposit contains rich, easily enriched cassiterite-quartz with tungsten ores with an average tin content of more than 2.5%. The licenses for both deposits are held by OJSC Deputatskolovo. The root Deputatskoye deposit includes significant reserves of rich, but hard-to-dress ores with an average tin content of more than 1%; The deposit is in the state reserve. Licenses for the development of the Festivalnoye, Perevalnoye and Pravourmiyskoye deposits are currently owned by JSC Novosibirsk Tin Plant. The Khingan deposit of easily enriched cassiterite-quartz ores is being developed by JSC Khingan tin. The Tigrinoe deposit (Primorsky Territory) was put on the state balance sheet. Russia's tungsten resources are almost entirely concentrated in the North Caucasus, Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In terms of explored reserves (10% of the world), Russia ranks third in the world after China (49.7%) and Canada (10.4%). The deposits are mostly complex, the ores also contain molybdenum, copper, bismuth, gold, silver, tellurium, tin, beryllium and scandium. The ores are mostly poor: the average content of tungsten in them is only 0.15%, while in the ores of China - 0.33%, Canada - 0.3-1.32%, South Korea and Bolivia - 0.8-0.9%, Australia - more than 1%. Deposits with rich ores containing 3.5% of explored reserves include Vostok-2 and Lermontovskoye (Primorsky Territory) and the vein Bom-Gorkhon (Trans-Baikal Territory). The Tyrnyauz skarn deposit in Kabardino-Balkaria is a very large one, but its ores are of low quality. The ores of the Bom-Gorkhon deposit are easily enriched, but in terms of reserves it is classified as small. The Kholtosonskoye field in Buryatia ranks second in the world in terms of reserves after the Xihuashan field in China.
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The property is currently in reserve. Despite the large volumes of explored reserves, the mineral resource base of tungsten in Russia is of poor quality and, given the current state of the mining sector, cannot meet the needs of the Russian industry for raw materials. The problem is exacerbated by the need to transport concentrates from the eastern regions to processing plants in the European part of the country and the Urals.
In terms of explored reserves of molybdenum, Russia is among the top ten countries in the world (2.1% of the world). Almost 87% is contained in the ores of molybdenum deposits proper. Most of the explored reserves are concentrated in the south of Eastern Siberia (Sorskoye in the Republic of Khakassia, developed by Sorsky Mining and Processing Plant LLC, and Zhirekenskoye - in Transbaikalia, operated by Zhirekensky Mining and Processing Plant OJSC). Here, preparations for the development of a large complex (molybdenum, tungsten, lead, zinc, gold, silver) Bugdainskoye deposit are being carried out by Priargunskoye Industrial Mining and Chemical Association OJSC. The asset also includes a large Orekitkanskoye deposit in the Republic of Buryatia with rich ores, the explored reserves of which amount to almost 20% of Russia's. A significant part of the reserves is in the North Caucasus (the Tyrnyauz deposit in Kabardino-Balkaria, developed by the Tyrnyauz Tungsten-Molybdenum Combine OJSC). Dumps and enrichment tailings, huge volumes of which have been accumulated at existing mines, can become additional raw materials for the production of molybdenum.
Russia has large reserves of titanium dioxide, ranking third in the world after China and Australia. About 58% of the reserves are concentrated in the Republic of Komi (Yarega oil-titanium OJSC Yaregskaya Oil-Titanium Company), and almost 40% - in the Trans-Baikal Territory (Chineiskoe and Kruchininskoe, OJSC Zabaikalinvest), Murmansk and Chelyabinsk regions (Medvedevskoe, OJSC Zlatoustovskoye mine management"). There are also known deposits in Central Russia: Central (Tambov Region) and Lukoyanovskoye (Nizhny Novgorod Region, OOO Geostar), as well as the Beshpagirskoye titanium-zirconium deposit. Stavropol Territory, Tarskoye in the Omsk region (OJSC Zirkongeologiya), Tuganskoye - in Tomsk (OAO Tomskneftegazgeologia). Titanium ores of Russia are significant
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but poorer than in the main countries producing titanium concentrates (Canada, Norway, Australia).
In terms of balance reserves of niobium pentoxide, Russia ranks second in the world after Brazil. More than 65% of ores are concentrated in Eastern Siberia (Beloziminskoye deposit in the Irkutsk region, Ulug-Tanzekskoye in the Republic of Tyva, Katuginskoye in the Chita region). About 30% is accounted for by the Murmansk region (Lovozerskoye deposit, CJSC Lovozero Mining and Processing Company). The Tatarskoye apatite ore deposit in the Krasnoyarsk Territory is being developed for niobium (subsoil user - OJSC Stalmag, subsidiary OAO Severstal). The Tomtorskoye field in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is promising. The main part of ferroniobium is used in the production of low-alloy structural steels used in bridge, ship and automotive industries, as well as in the production of large-diameter pipes for gas and oil pipelines. Demand for niobium in Russia is very low, but it will obviously grow, since even without taking into account the construction of new pipelines, at least 1000 tons of niobium per year is required for the manufacture of pipes to replace those that have served their time.
The main part of the explored reserves of tantalum is concentrated in three deposits: Ulug-Tanzekskoye (37%) in the Republic of Tyva, Lovozerskoye (23%) in the Murmansk region and Katuginskoye (14%) in Transbaikalia. Preparations are underway for the development of the Vishnyakovskoye tantalum deposit in the Irkutsk region.
The balance reserves of rare earth metals are concentrated mainly in the poor complex apatite and rare metal ores of the Lovozero deposit of the Murmansk region, very small - in the Trans-Baikal Territory (Katugin deposit). Unique in terms of content, the Tomtorskoye field in the northwest of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is located in a poorly developed area that is difficult to access.
In terms of balance reserves of gold, Russia ranks third in the world after South Africa and the United States; according to forecast - 2nd after South Africa. The basis of the mineral resource base is the deposits of Siberia and the Far East, which contain up to 75% of the balance reserves of industrial categories. More than half is concentrated in large and super-large deposits (Table 13).

Main gold deposits in Russia
Table 13

25. World forest resources

In the scientific literature, one often comes across a description of the role of the forest, forest vegetation as an integral part of the biosphere. It is usually noted that forests form the largest ecosystems on Earth, in which most of the organic matter of the planet accumulates. That they are of great importance for photosynthesis, for the normal course of the processes of stabilizing the oxygen balance of the atmosphere, the absorption of carbon dioxide, as well as for maintaining soil fertility and water purity. That they are the largest repositories of the gene pool of the biosphere, a habitat for a large number of plants and animals, an important source of wood, food, fodder, technical, medicinal and other resources. In addition to all this, forests absorb noise, many air pollutants, thereby favorably affecting the quality of the natural environment, and indirectly the mood of people who find positive emotions in communicating with nature. In a word, the economic, ecological and aesthetic value of forests is always highly valued.

Various indicators are used to quantify the world's forest resources as an important part of terrestrial biological resources. The most important among them are indicators forest area, woodland(proportion of forest area in the whole territory) and standing timber stock. However, upon acquaintance with them, a rather significant difference in estimates attracts attention. If we try to compare the estimates of FAO, other international organizations and individual experts in this field, then such a difference will be detected quite easily. For example, in various sources, the global forest area is estimated at 51.2 billion hectares; 43.2; 39.6; 36.0; 34.4;

30.0 billion hectares. Accordingly, there are also large discrepancies in the indicators of the forest cover of the earth's land (37%, 32, 30, 27%, etc.), as well as in terms of timber reserves (385 billion m 3, 350, 335 billion m 3, etc.) .

This discrepancy is explained by the fact that some of these estimates refer to different categories of forest area. The highest of them refer to the area of ​​all lands of the forest fund, which, in addition to the actual forest lands, also include shrubs, sparse areas, cuttings, burnt areas, etc. The middle ones correspond to a stricter approach to the definition of forest lands, area directly occupied by forests, and the lowest - to closed forests, which occupy no more than 2/3 of all forest areas and, perhaps, most accurately characterize the true forest cover of the territory. Sometimes statistics also include primary and secondary forests.

Table 28 gives an idea of ​​regional differences in the distribution of world forest resources.

The following conclusions follow from the data in Table 28. First, that Latin America occupies the leading place in the world in all important "forest" indicators. Secondly, that the CIS, North America and Africa fall into the “second tier” according to these indicators. Thirdly, that foreign Asia, which has a high overall performance, has - as one might expect - the lowest per capita forest resource endowment. And fourthly, that according to all the main indicators included in the table, foreign Europe and Australia with Oceania close the ranking of large regions.

Table 28

DISTRIBUTION OF WORLD FOREST RESOURCES BY LARGE REGIONS

* Without CIS countries.

Along with the distribution of the world's forest resources over large regions of the world, their distribution over the main forest belts is of great interest. (Fig. 24). Figure 24 clearly shows the distribution of cold-zone coniferous forests (or coniferous boreal forests), stretching in a wide strip through the northern parts of Eurasia and North America. To the south, a belt of mixed temperate forests extends. The forests of dry areas are most characteristic of Africa (there they are represented by sparse forests and shrubs of the savannah zone), but they are also found in North and South America, in Australia. Equatorial rainforests grow in a belt of consistently high temperatures and heavy rainfall north and south of the equator. Their main arrays are located in the Amazon and Congo river basins, as well as in South and Southeast Asia. Tropical rainforests are generally much worse preserved and are to be found only in parts of Central and South America, Africa and South Asia. Finally, humid forests of the warm temperate zone are found in separate rather large areas in North and South America, East Asia and Australia.

Rice. 24. Schematic map of the forests of the world (according to I.S. Malakhov): 1 - coniferous forests of the cold zone; 2 - mixed forests of the temperate zone; 3 - forests of dry regions; 4 - equatorial rainforests; 5 - tropical rainforests; 6 - humid forests of the warm temperate zone

Figure 24 also provides a basis for a more generalized approach to identifying forest belts, which is more often used in educational literature. It consists in combining them into two main forest belts of the Earth- northern and southern, which are separated by a wide belt of arid territories.

Square northern forest belt– 2 billion hectares (including 1.6 billion hectares under closed stands and 0.4 billion hectares under shrubs and light forests). The largest forest areas in this belt are located within Russia, Canada, and the USA. Coniferous species occupy 67% of the total forest area, and deciduous - 33%. The diversity of species in the forests of the northern belt is not so great: for example, in foreign Europe there are approximately 250 species of trees and shrubs. Wood growth is also rather slow. So, in the coniferous forests of Russia, on average, 1.3 m 3 grows per 1 ha per year, in Finland - 2.3 m 3, in the USA - 3.1 m 3. In the zone of mixed forests, this increase is noticeably greater.

Square southern forest belt- also about 2 billion hectares, but 97% of it consists of deciduous forests. At the same time, half of the entire forest area is occupied by tall forest, and the rest is occupied by low-density sparse forest, shrubs, and forest fallow. In the southern forest belt, the forest stand is much more diverse than in the northern one: in all tropical forests, more than 100 and even 200 various kinds trees. The average annual growth of timber per hectare here is several times greater than in the forests of the northern zone. And the average stock of standing wood reaches 250 m 3 /ha, which is tens of times higher than such a stock in some types of forests of the northern belt. Therefore, the total stock of timber in the forests of the southern belt is greater.

Naturally, the countries with the largest forest areas should be sought within either the northern or southern forest belts. (Fig. 25). These belts also include countries with the highest forest cover: in the northern zone, these are primarily Finland and Sweden, and in the southern zone, Suriname and Guyana in Latin America, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, and Papua New Guinea in Oceania.

Russia is the richest country in the world with forest resources. From Figure 25 it follows that this applies to both its forested and forested area (the latter is 22.1% of the world). The total stock of wood in the forests of Russia - 82 billion m 3 - exceeds the stocks of any large foreign region, with the exception of Latin America. This means that Russia accounts for more than 1/5 of the world's timber reserves, including almost 1/2 of the coniferous timber reserves. According to the corresponding per capita indicators (5.2 hectares and 560 m 3), it is second only to Canada. However, the forest resources of Russia are distributed very unevenly over its vast territory: almost 9/10 of the entire forested area is located in the taiga zone, especially within Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

Rice.25. Top ten countries by forest area

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the total forest area of ​​the world exceeds 3.4 billion hectares, or 27% of the earth's land area. FAO estimates are based on the definition that all ecological systems with a tree cover of at least 10% in developing countries and at least 20% in developed countries are identified as forests.

In addition, according to the accepted methodology for classifying forests, 1.7 billion hectares of land occupied by trees and shrubs must be added to this area. More than half of the world's forest area (51%) is located on the territory of four countries: Russia - 22%, Brazil - 16%, Canada - 7%, USA - 6%

An estimate of the total timber stock in the world's forests has been obtained by FAO by summarizing data from 166 countries covering 99% of the world's forest area. It amounted to 386 billion cubic meters in 2000.

The total amount of aboveground woody biomass in the world is estimated at 422 billion tons. About 27% of the aboveground woody biomass is concentrated in Brazil and about 25% in Russia (due to the area).

The average amount of woody biomass per hectare of the planet's forests is 109 tons/ha. The maximum amount of woody biomass per hectare is recorded for South America as a whole. The largest stock of timber per hectare was also noted here (in Guatemala - 355 m3/ha). The countries of Central Europe also have very high timber stocks per hectare (286 m3/ha in Austria).

The Global Forest Assessment is based on information provided by each country to FAO based on a recommended format. These data are also usually combined according to the allocated zones of forest growth: tropical, temperate and boreal zones based on the conditional division of the surface of the globe into physical and geographical zones.

Forest zones are called natural land areas of the boreal, temperate, subtropical, tropical, subequatorial and equatorial belts, in the natural landscapes of which forest tree and shrub vegetation predominates. Forest zones are common in conditions of sufficient or excessive moisture. The most typical for the growth of forests is a humid or humid climate. According to

According to the geomorphological classification, the climate of areas with excessive moisture is considered humid when precipitation exceeds the amount of moisture used for evaporation and seepage into the soil, and excess moisture is removed by river runoff, which contributes to the development of erosive landforms.

The typical vegetation of landscapes with a humid climate is the forest. There are two types of humid climate: polar - with permafrost and phreatic - with groundwater.

The tropical forests of the world cover an area of ​​1.7 billion hectares, which is about 37% of the land area of ​​countries located in the tropical zone of our planet. In the tropical zone, subequatorial monsoon forests grow, uh Quatorial rainforests, humid tropical evergreen, humid tropical deciduous and semi-deciduous forests, including mangrove forests and savannahs.

All the forests of this belt of the earth develop on the so-called red soils - ferrallitic soils, which were formed on the weathering crust of the ancient dry land of the earth, which underwent deep weathering (ferrallitization), as a result of which almost all primary minerals were destroyed. The content of humus in the upper horizon of these soils is from 1-1.5 to 8-10%. Sometimes, glandular shell crusts form on the soil surface.

Ferrallitic soils are common in South and Central America, Central Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Northern Australia. After deforestation, hevea plantations are created on these soils to collect natural rubber, oil or coconut palms, as well as a classic set of tropical crops: sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, banana, pineapple, tea, black and white pepper, ginger, etc. culture.

The forest zones of the temperate zones of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres include the taiga zone, the zone of mixed forests, the zone of broad-leaved forests and the monsoon forests of the temperate zone.

A characteristic feature of the forest zones of temperate zones is the seasonality of natural processes. Coniferous and deciduous forests are widespread here with a relatively simple structure and a small variety of vegetation cover. Podzolic and burozem types of soil formation predominate.

Temperate forests cover an area of ​​0.76 billion hectares in five regions of the world: eastern North America, most of Europe, the eastern part of the Asian subcontinent, a small part in the Middle East and Patagonia (Chile).

Boreal forests grow in the latitudinal zone between the arctic tundra and temperate forests. The total area of ​​forest lands in the boreal belt of the planet is estimated at 1.2 billion hectares, of which 0.92 billion hectares are closed forests, including 0.64 billion hectares of forests called exploitation.

Boreal forests grow mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. Their total area in North America and Eurasia accounts for almost 30% of the total forest area of ​​the planet.

In general, the area of ​​boreal forests is 82.1% of the total forest area of ​​the six countries in which they grow. In Canada, boreal forests make up 75% of forests, in the USA (Alaska) - 88%, in Norway - 80%, in Sweden - 77%, in Finland - 98% and in Russia - an average of about 67%.

Tropical forests are characterized by thick weathering crust and intense runoff. The subzone of permanently humid forests is dominated by evergreen forests with exceptional species diversity on red-yellow lateritic soils. In the subzone of seasonally wet forests, along with evergreen forests, deciduous forests on red ferrallitic soils are common.

Zones of equatorial tropical forests are distributed on both sides of the equator in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and on the islands of Oceania. In the zones of equatorial forests, there is almost no seasonal rhythm of natural processes, moisture is abundant, temperatures are constantly high, rivers are rich in water, soils are podzolized lateritic, along the sea coasts there are mangrove communities.

The forest that grows here is commonly known as the evergreen rainforest. This forest has become a symbol of the struggle for the conservation of forests and the conservation of biological diversity, as it is a multi-tiered tree formations that grow in conditions of year-round moisture and has a high density of animal population, especially in the upper layers of the forest.

There are already less than 1 billion hectares (718.3 million hectares) of such forests left on the globe, mainly in Brazil, i.e. about 41% of the total rainforest area, or about 16% of the planet's forest area.

Subequatorial monsoon forests are common in Central and South America, Africa, southern Asia and northeast Australia. In these zones, the climate is characterized by the dominance of the equatorial monsoons. The dry season lasts 2.5-4.5 months. The soils are red-colored lateritic. Mixed deciduous-evergreen and deciduous forests predominate.

Humid tropical evergreen, semi-deciduous and deciduous forests are the predominant type of vegetation in the eastern sectors of the continents within the tropical belts of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (southern Florida, Central and South America, India, the island of Madagascar, Southeast Asia, Australia, the islands of Oceania and the Malay Archipelago. They occupy mainly the windward slopes of mountain areas. The climate is tropical humid or seasonally humid with the dominance of humid oceanic trade winds.

According to the Forest Information System (FORIS) established by the FAO, out of the total area of ​​tropical forests (1756.3 million hectares), lowland forests account for 88%, mountain forests - 11.6% and highland areas, not occupied by woody vegetation, 0.4%. Among the lowland tropical forests, the largest area is occupied by rain evergreen tropical forests (718.3 million hectares in 1990), the forest cover of these territories is 76%. They are followed by humid tropical deciduous forests, the area of ​​which is 587.3 million hectares (forest cover 46%). Dry deciduous tropical forests occupied only 238.3 million hectares (forest cover 19%). The area of ​​mountain forests was 204.3 million ha (forest cover 29%).

Lands released from the virgin rainforest for agricultural use very quickly lose their fertility. Abandoned agricultural land is overgrown for several years with the so-called secondary rainforest; secondary after the virgin.

The most typical feature of the secondary tropical forest is the depleted and fairly uniform in terms of ecological characteristics of the species composition of trees - edificators.

Tree species of the secondary tropical forest are characterized by relative photophilousness, rapid growth and the ability to disperse seeds efficiently, i.e. less reliance on consortial relationships with seed-dispersing animals than primary rainforest trees. But as the secondary forest develops, it more and more approaches in its appearance to the parent formation.

Tropical forests are heterogeneous. The total number of woody plants in tropical forests exceeds four thousand. At the same time, the number of main forest-forming tree species exceeds 400 species. Therefore, the tropical forest is a complex mosaic of evergreen, semi-evergreen (semi-deciduous), mixed, deciduous and coniferous forests, which is formed under the influence of orographic and edapho-climatic factors.

Such edapho-climatic types of tropical forest formations as savannahs, bamboo thickets, and mangrove forests stand apart.

Unlike other forest formations, the species composition of natural mangrove forests is small. Actually mangrove trees, which determine the specific appearance of this formation, are species of two families Rhizophoraceae (genus Rhizophora and Bruguiera) and Verbenaceae (genus Avicennia); the core of the formation is formed by 12-14 species of mangrove trees.

It is believed that with the help of mangrove forests, not only the consolidation, but also the increment of the landmass of the countries of the Pacific region takes place.

The mangrove forests of the world have been studied quite well and in detail. To a large extent, this is due to their diverse and ecologically important role, ranging from creating specific conditions for the reproduction and habitat of numerous marine and freshwater fish, crustaceans, etc., up to the use of mangrove wood for fuel, charcoal (from Rhizophoza), processing etc.

In the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, with their ancient civilizations artificial mangrove forests are also widespread, in which up to 40% are Melaleuca leucadendra trees.

A significant part of the world's population lives in the forest subtropical zone. It is formed by a combination of forest natural zones of the subtropics of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, sometimes considered as zones of monsoon mixed forests, a typical example of which are the Mediterranean zones. Forest subtropical zones characterized by mild winters, year-round vegetation of plants, significant differences in landscapes on the slopes of different exposures.

The composition of tree species in temperate forests in different regions of the world is quite similar, it is dominated by maple, birch, juniper, chestnut, oak, beech, willow, magnolia, pine, spruce, fir, etc. The classic appearance of the European forests of the temperate zone with the greatest completeness is represented by pure and mixed beech and birch forests.

Beech never enters the zone of growth of subtropical or boreal forests, unlike birch. The second group of species that form the appearance of temperate forests are oaks. In total, more than 250 species of oaks of the genus Quercus are distributed, of which 111 species are widespread. Unlike beech, oak also penetrates into subboreal regions. For example, Quercus robur extends deep into the continental regions of Eurasia, while Quercus mongolica extends to the boreal regions of the Far East and Eastern Siberia and northeastern regions of China. However, only 6…7 species of oak are able to enter up to 50 about northern latitude. The main part of this group of species does not rise to the north above 30 about- 35about northern latitude.

The picture of the appearance of forests growing in temperate zones, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, is completed by numerous species of birch (46 species are widespread), alder (23 species), willows (145 species) and poplars (41 species).

In North America, the largest part of the forests of the temperate zone stretches from the east coast inland to 95 about west longitude, and in some places even further west. This lane is bounded from north 45 about northern latitude and from the south - 30 about northern latitude. Among the most common tree species in this zone, in addition to a limited set of conifers, there are 37 species of oak, 13 species of willows, 11 species of juniper, 10 species of maples, 8 magnolias, 6 birches, 5 species of alder and walnut, 4 species of ash, chestnut, poplar, linden, elm, 2 species of honey locust, hornbeam, elm and more than 40 other species of tree species.

In Europe, temperate forests grow from the Atlantic coast inland to the boreal forest belt. The exception is the forests of the Iberian and Peloponnesian peninsulas, which are more typical of the Mediterranean subtropical type of forest cover, although in some places there are islands of coniferous and broad-leaved forests of the temperate zone.

Such a far advancement of temperate forests in Europe is due to the influence of the Gulf Stream, which forms a specific Atlantic type. climatic conditions even in continental Europe.

The species composition of temperate forests in Europe is poorer than in North America. It includes, in addition to several species of pine, fir and spruce, 35 species of willows, 18 species of oak, 9 species of maples, 4 species of birch, alder and poplar, 3 species of ash, linden and elm, 2 species of beech and hornbeam, one species of juniper, sycamore and chestnut, and about 20 more species of tree species.

The third largest area occupied by temperate forests is the eastern part of Asia. These forests grow not only on the mainland of Asia, starting from the eastern coast of the Sea of ​​Japan and China, located from the valley of the river. Yangtze, partially reaching even the Kamchatka Peninsula (60 about northern latitude). On the mainland, they are located on a vast territory between 30 about and 50 about north latitude and between 125 about and 115 about east longitude. These temperate forests also grow in Japan, especially in the northern and central parts of it.

The species composition of forests in Eastern Asia is the most numerous in the temperate zone. Conifers account for a significant part; by the end of the 1970s, more than 1,200 species had been described in the world.

More than half of the world's conifers grow in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, including 80 species of pine, about 50 - spruce (according to some sources from 36 to 80 species), 40 - fir, about 60 - juniper, 6 - larch, 12 - cypress and 4 types of cedar.

The species composition of deciduous trees in temperate forests, with the exception of larch, exceeds 800 species. There are especially many species of willow - 97 species, maple species - 66, magnolia - 50, chestnut - 45, birch - 36, poplar - 33, hornbeam - 25, oak - 18 species.

In the Middle East, temperate forests, especially deciduous forests, are the southeastern branch of European forests that extend through the Dardanelles into the Asian subcontinent. They stretch in a narrow strip through the northern part of Anatolia (Turkey). Approaching the Iranian Plateau, this strip of forests expands southward to 30 about northern latitude, capturing the eastern part of the Black Sea region. Deciduous and coniferous forests, typical for the temperate zone, also grow in the foothills, in the lower and middle parts of the spurs of the Caucasus. The species composition of this part of the forests is very close to European forests.

The world's smallest temperate forests are found in Patagonia, in southern Chile. They stretched from 37 about up to 55 about south latitude, occupying mainly river valleys and leeward slopes of hills. Their breed composition is small, including 47 species. The most numerous group are 10 Nothofagus species of the Fagaceae family and 8 Myrceugenia species of the Myrthaceae family.

The main appearance of boreal forests is determined by conifers. In North America - 12 species, including 5 species of pine, 3 species of spruce, one each of fir, hemlock and thuja. In Eurasia - 14 species, including 3 species of pine, 4 species of fir, 3 species of spruce and 2 species of larch. But due to the biological specificity of these species, the species composition of boreal forests includes a significant amount of deciduous species, mainly birch, aspen, and poplar. Depending on the degree of continentality of the climate, certain tree species receive an advantage in the species composition.

The zone of growth of the boreal forests of Russia includes the tundra, forest tundra, the subzones of the northern and middle taiga, and also partially the subzone of the southern taiga. The state forest fund of the country is distributed among these territories as follows:

§ subzone of tundra light forests - 14% of the area of ​​the forest fund, including 17% of the forest area and 13% of the forested area, i.e. forests proper;

§ northern taiga subzone - 10% of the total area of ​​the forest fund, 9% of the forest and 8% of the forested area;

§ middle taiga subzone - 33%, 38% and 41% respectively;

§ southern taiga subzone - 18%, 20% and 20% respectively.

A separate accounting unit in the composition of the forests of the I group of Russia includes tundra forests, territorially located in the forest-tundra zone. It should be noted that the boundaries of the forest-tundra zone and the near-tundra forests do not coincide: the near-tundra forests of Russia are currently a conditionally economic unit, while the forest-tundra is a unit of geographical zoning of the territory.

In the mountains and adjacent plains of the taiga regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, forests are widespread, formed mainly by larch. In the mountainous regions of the forest-tundra and tundra, in addition to larch forests, there are also light birch forests, thickets of willows, shrub birches, and often Siberian juniper.

In the mountainous regions of the forest-tundra and tundra of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, thickets of dwarf pine are common, rising in the mountains to the subalpine belt. These tree species grow in the northern upper limit of the distribution of woody vegetation, including the coasts of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin Island.

But in the northern latitudes of Russia, the upper limit of forest vegetation can also be represented by spruce forests and stone birch forests.

The full version of the work was published in 2001: Strakhov V.V., Pisarenko A.I., Borisov V.A. Forests of the World and Russia // M., in collection: Bulletin of the Ministry natural resources RF "Use and protection of natural resources in Russia", M., 2001, No. 9, pp. 49-63;

ROME, September 7 - RIA Novosti, Natalia Shmakova. Russia is a country with the largest area forests, which account for 20% of the world's total forest area, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 released on Monday.

The study, which covers 234 countries and territories and is published every five years, provides an assessment of the state and analysis of the change in the world's forests. In particular, the report notes that recent data reflect an encouraging trend towards lower rates of deforestation, reduced carbon emissions from forests, and increased capacity for sustainable forest management.

The FAO report names the ten most forest-rich countries, which account for about 67% of the world's forest area. In addition to Russia, which retains the first place in terms of the share of forests in the total area, the list of countries also includes Brazil, whose share in the total forest area is 12%, Canada (9%) and the USA (8%), and China closes the top five. (5%).

Speaking about how forests and forest management have changed over the past 25 years, experts note that although they have "significantly changed," in general, this period was also marked by a number of positive results.

"While globally, the world's forest resources continue to decline as population grows and demand for food and land increases, the rate of net forest loss has declined," the document says.

Thus, since 1990, the forest area has decreased by 3.1% - from 4.1 billion hectares to 3.99 billion in 2015. At the same time, the annual loss of natural forest area, which represents the main part of the world's forest resources, has slowed down: if in 1990-2000 the net loss of area was 8.5 million hectares per year, then in the last five years this figure has decreased to 6.6 million hectares.

"These changes were the result of declining rates of forest conversion in some countries and expanding forest area in others. It appears that the net change in forest area has stabilized over the past ten years," experts say.

At the same time, the FAO report indicates that although the reduction of natural forest is now at a slower pace, "its area is likely to continue to decline, especially in the tropics." This is due to the fact that forests will be converted to agricultural land. Thus, "the largest share of forest loss is expected in Latin America, followed by Africa, and in all other regions, an increase in the forest fund is predicted."