Less than a percent of Baikal's forests are lost or damaged in the previous three years

The Federal Forestry Agency summed up the results of forest pathology monitoring in the forests of Lake Baikal for 2021-2023. According to the ministry, the preliminary area of damaged and dead forests is 221.5 thousand hectares - less than 1% of all forests of Lake Baikal. This was announced on its website by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia.

"The main causes of damage and death of trees are forest fires - more than 60% (143.6 thousand hectares) and forest diseases - about 20% (40.5 thousand hectares), the rest of the territory suffered from natural causes," the message says.

"At the same time, reforestation in the forests of Lake Baikal in 2023 was carried out on 76.2 thousand hectares, which completely covers the area of the lost forest in previous years," the department noted.

Employees of the Federal Forest Protection Agency, subordinate to the Federal Forestry Agency, have been conducting forest pathology monitoring in the Baikal natural Territory since 2021. The work is carried out within the framework of the federal project "Preservation of Lake Baikal" by land and remote means. This is necessary to monitor the condition of the forest, assess damage from pests, diseases and other natural or anthropogenic phenomena. The dynamics of these processes are also being traced and measures are being taken to protect the forest.

Specialists remotely surveyed the entire forested territory of Lake Baikal - over 23 million hectares, while 6 million hectares were studied during ground expeditions. In addition, they conducted over 4,000 DNA analyses to assess the condition of the trees.