Knowledge Base

Here you can find Pavel Pashkov’s answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Is it true that forests in Russia are only increasing?Why do bears approach humans, and is it related to pine nuts?What do we need to do to have a global impact on environmental issues?How can an ordinary person help wildlife?What do studies say about fires and roads?Why don't petitions to protect wildlife work?Is it necessary to write to government authorities if the responses are just formalities?How many bears are there in Russia overall?What is the 'Green Page' and why is it needed?How do roads affect the integrity of the taiga?What is the Concept of Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility (TFET) and how does it differ from the existing global protected area system?What are Public Initiatives and how do they help protect nature?What are ancient forests?Why bears and how is the register organized?How is the area of Russia's intact forest landscapes changing?Interactive map of the Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility (TFET)How do ancient forests affect the climate?The increase in quotas for bear hunting coincided with the expansion of the sports hunting industryWhy do we need our online Earth observation station?Can the shooting of bears provoke new encounters between animals and humans?Why am I against planting forests in "rows" and critical of modern reforestation?What do we propose to solve the problem?What threat has emerged for the reserves?They want to allow bears to be killed all winter during hibernation

How do roads affect the integrity of the taiga?

The construction of roads is one of the main factors in the destruction of Russia's largely undisturbed forest ecosystems. Roads literally cut ancient forest areas into separate sections, disrupt natural wildlife migration paths, and provide access for industrial logging, mineral extraction, and further development of previously hard-to-reach areas. In a scientific study from 2026 published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, scientists analyzed 20 480 satellite images of Siberia from 2000–2023. During this time, the length of the road network in the studied region increased by 1,6 times, and the number of fragments of largely undisturbed forests grew from 383 to 1 645 — by 4,3 times! The average area of the remaining forest fragments decreased from 4 460 to 1 038 km², almost by 77%. The study covered an area of 5,81 million km² of Central and Eastern Siberia. In the studied part of Siberia, scientists estimated the growth of the road network from 172 521 km in 2000 to 275 288 km in 2023, an increase of 102 767 km. Manukovsky and Kurdyukov in the collection of the Voronezh State Forestry University for 2025 provide an estimate of about 1,9 million km of logging roads in Russia by the end of 2023–2024, including dirt and seasonal roads. The source of the figure and the calculation method are not specified in the article. According to Roslesinforg, by the end of 2022, 97,8 thousand km of logging roads were used permanently for timber removal. These are official data on roads for timber removal, and these roads cut forest areas into parts. It is especially dangerous that roads become an additional factor in the spread of forest fires. Russian scientists in a study of the Priangarye region for 2002–2020 found that almost half of the registered fires occurred within two kilometers of settlements, roads, and logging areas. During these years, about 4,1 million hectares of the studied area were affected by fires, and logging disturbances affected another 600 thousand hectares. The proximity of fires to roads and logging indicates strong anthropogenic impact. The consequences are destructive for the entire Russian Taiga. When a large ecosystem is cut by roads, the contiguous habitats of bears and other animals are reduced, human disturbance increases, and forests become more accessible for further development. Isolation of natural areas can disrupt the exchange of individuals between populations and reduce ecosystem resilience. This is why we believe it is urgently necessary to protect the remaining large, largely undisturbed forest areas of Russia from further industrial infrastructure development. Each new road deep in the ancient forest can become the beginning of large-scale destruction of an entire natural ecosystem.
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