Improvement of conditions for managing the forest complex

The importance of the forest complex for the economy of Russia is impossible to overestimate. With a quarter of the world’s timber reserves, the country ranks first according to this indicator. At the same time, the implementation of the extensive model of development of forestry and forest management in Russia, as well as the approach, according to which the forest is seen as a resource available in large volumes, thus there is no need to protect and restore it, lead to the depletion of economically accessible forests. So, the total timber stock is decreasing from year to year and is now 82.1 billion m3. Forest restoration and sustainable development of the forest complex of the country at the present time is inseparably connected with the improvement of the legislation in the field of forest management. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the legal regulation of the forest industry and introduce innovation in the forest policy in line with the global approach to forests that takes into account a dual purpose of forests: forests as a public good at the national and global level and forests as a resource for socio-economic development of the country. In this connection, it is necessary to harmonize the Russian forest legislation with international law, including the decentralization of the international principle of organization and managing forestry and transferring most of the functions of forest management to the regional level that makes it much more effective to conduct forest policy. In addition to the general directions of forestry development in the country and regions, the article provides practical recommendations for improving forest policies and the legal and regulatory environment in the management of forest resources. They are associated with the development of mentoring in the executive bodies of regions that manage the forest complex and at forest enterprises; a significant increase in the terms of rent of the forest fund; the effectiveness of the forest auctions; increasing state control over the use of forests; the use of tax incentives at the regional level and other changes.