During a televised

During a televised conversation with Russians in October 2007, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin mentioned that for the production of bioenergy, Russia would use its land not suitable for the production of food crops, that is the vast taiga and tundra, where a range of productive herbaceous and woody biomass crops can be grown (Check Biotech 2007). The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) assessed the land suitable for energy crops production (miscanthus, willow and poplar species), outside forest, urban areas and land highly suitable for cereals in Russia. However, the analysis doesn’t quantity these resources (Fischer et al. 2005). Biomass Resource Assessment Capabilities Russia has very good capabilities – GIS/RS, significant scientific and engineering staff capacity in the forestry and agricultural sector, and extensive statistical information to conduct comprehensive biomass resource assessments. Geospatial Capabilities. The Russian Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), completed two geospatial products containing a series of maps and tables on forestry and agricultural resources: Russian Forestry Analysis and Land Resources of Russia. Figure 28 illustrates two examples of these products. More information about these products can be found at http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/FOR/. The Space Research Institute (SRI) of the Russian Academy of Science provides expertise in remote sensing. In collaboration with the Center for Forest Ecology and Productivity and a number of other leading research institutions, the SRI has a number of methodological and technological developments aimed at providing reliable and regularly updated information on the status and dynamics of Russian forests (FAO 2007). RS and GIS have been used by several leading Russian research institutions under the leadership of the Global Forest Watch, and in collaboration with the World Resource Institute, to develop an Atlas of Russia’s Intact Forest Landscapes. More information about the atlas can be found at http://archive.wri.org/publication_detail.cfm?pubid=3717. The Federal Forestry Agency has also been using RS for forest monitoring. 101

Source: IIASA/RAS, 2002 Figure 28. Maps of Crops and Forest Resources in Russia Modeling. Moscow State Forest University (MSFU) is a major educational and scientific center related to the forest industry in Russia. Researchers at the university, in collaboration with IIASA, have developed models to simulate forest ecosystem dynamics and to assess biological productivity of forests. These models could be used in different ecological applications, in forest inventory, and forest management as reference information on the growth and productivity of Russia’s forests. Data Availability. Leading agencies for agricultural and forestry statistics are the Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Forestry Statistics and the National Statistics Institute. Crop production, 102