Russia loosens logging restrictions in Baikal area for dead forest stands

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing, under certain conditions, clear-cut logging of dead forest stands in the Lake Baikal area.

The document has been published on the official legal information portal, as per Russian media.

The law уточняет restrictions on certain types of activities in the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory. The amendments are introduced to the federal law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal” and related legislative acts.

Under the approved law, clear-cut logging of forest stands on forest fund lands and specially protected natural areas in the central ecological zone of Baikal is prohibited.

An exception, however, is made for clear-cut logging carried out for forest regeneration purposes involving “dead forest stands that have lost their environment-forming, water-protection, sanitary-hygienic, health-improving and other beneficial functions,” if selective logging does not ensure the replacement of such stands with forests capable of preserving protective forests and their useful functions.

The list of forest fund lands and/or forest plots where clear-cut logging of dead forest stands will be permitted will be determined by the Russian government, based on a decision approving such a list adopted by a commission responsible for ensuring the protection of Lake Baikal and the socio-economic development of the Baikal natural territory.

The law stipulates that the commission will include State Duma deputies, Federation Council members, representatives of the Russian presidential administration, the government, the Federal Security Service, as well as the top officials of the Irkutsk Region and the Republic of Buryatia. The draft list will be reviewed by the commission only if there is a positive assessment from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The law also provides for specific procedures governing the reclassification of forest fund lands occupied by protective forests, or land plots within such areas, into other land categories within the central ecological zone.

The law will enter into force on March 1, 2026.

By Tamilla Hasanova