Potential areas of international cooperation between Russia and Finland: results of forest leaseholders’ survey

The article presents and analyzes the results of the authors' assessment of the international cooperation level in the field of forestry and timber industry on the example of the Republic of Karelia and Finland and substantiates promising directions for the development of this cooperation. The research was performed as a survey on the territory of the Republic of Karelia. The authors interviewed 53 respondents, including 34 contractors-suppliers of forestry services and 19 companies-forest leaseholders. The survey results revealed that about a third of the surveyed forest leaseholders faced a shortage of qualified forestry workers. More than 40% of respondents were dissatisfied with the quality of services provided by Russian contractors. At the same time, 100% of the respondents who received services from Finnish contractors were satisfied with their quality and were ready to consider such proposals in the future. Most of the respondents pointed out the language barrier, high cost of services, remoteness from work sites and visa regime as the obstacles to the international cooperation development. Despite this, the forest leaseholders were ready to attract Finnish contractors, first, for forest roads construction and repair, thinning in young stands, thinning and intermediate felling, as well as soil preparation for forest regeneration. The respondents believed that all specialists involved in forestry and timber industry should regularly participate in educational programs aimed at obtaining information about new techniques, technologies, and work methods. As the most promising topics for such professional educational programs, the respondents specified forest management, monitoring and inventory of forest resources, intelligent control systems for harvesting machines, efficient operation of timber trucks, construction, repair and maintenance of forest roads, logistic management.