The Forest Complex of Russia Through the Mirror of the May 2018 Presidential Decree: Is it worth Waiting for a Breakthrough?
The forest complex of Russia is not among the advanced sectors of the country's economy, despite the great potential predetermined by the vast territory covered by Russian forests. The article discusses the two most important documents of the current agenda for the development of the forest complex of Russia: The Strategy for the Development of the Forest Complex of the Russian Federation until 2030 and the May Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 2018. It is concluded that achieving the goals of advanced development of the country's economy laid down in the May Decree only substantial financial costs, but also new approaches to solving old industry problems. Nevertheless, the federal project “Forest conservation” of the national project “Ecology” is mainly focused on overcoming the lag in the infrastructure provision of forest protection and reforestation measures. However, other, primarily institutional, problems remain beyond the framework of state forest policy. It is shown that for the successful implementation of the policy of reforming the Russian forest complex aimed at achieving the goals of sustainable forest management, it will be necessary to continue the work on improving the content of the activities laid down in the federal project. The corresponding proposals for achieving the goals of the May 2018 Decree regarding the conservation of forests are formulated.