FAO and Russian forest inventory

In 1965, Unasylva reported on technical assistance that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – an FAO founder but never a full member of the organization – provided to FAO in organizing forest inventory training:

“THE U.S.S.R., through its technical assistance program, co-operated with FAO in 1963 in organizing a training center on the planning and execution of forest inventories over extensive forest areas, by means of aerial photography and other similar techniques. The course, which lasted two months, was organized at the Forest Research Institute of Leningrad and at Sochi on the Black Sea coast. Twenty foresters from an equal number of developing countries participated.” (from Unasylva, No. 77, 1965, “Aerial photography for forest inventory”)

Some things have not changed: forest inventory continues to be a major concern in Russian forestry. The Russian Federation became a member of FAO in April 2006 and attended the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) for the first time in March 2007. At COFO, the Russian Federation requested FAO assistance in the establishment of an international training and development centre for forest monitoring and assessment, which it envisages as an important implementation tool for the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) and international conventions (e.g. on biological diversity and climate change) and processes (e.g. related to forest law enforcement and governance). FAO is now providing forestry assistance to the Russian Federation in the development of a national forest inventory.