The State of knowledge about wetlands and their future under aspects of global climate change: the situation in Russia

About two-thirds of Russia’s land area are flat lands, which contributes to the development of conditions favouring wetland formation. Wetlands cover vast areas, especially in the north. Wetlands in the former Soviet Union were not recognized as separate or distinct ecosystems and this is still the situation in Russia today. Bogs are one of the most abundant and typical wetlands and were treated as worthless wastelands. Beginning in the 17th century and continuing under the Soviet government there was an enforced policy to drain wetlands and reclaim the land, mainly for farming. After the collapse of the USSR, this practice was discontinued along with the Soviet model of agriculture and an end to the forced and unnecessary use of pesticides and fertilizers with the result that the toxic load on Russian aquatic systems decreased drastically. Industrial production was also greatly curtailed. While it is now recovering, many of these are turning to environmentally-friendly technologies. The intensity of land-use related impacts upon Russian wetlands is negligible compared to that in more densely populated countries and therefore the environmental conservation of wetlands in Russia may not currently be an urgent problem. There is currently no consensus on what the overall direct and indirect impacts of climate change on the number of Russian wetlands will be—in some areas they may increase but decrease in others. In Russia, the most urgent issue is not the preservation of wetlands but the development of proper wetland management practices. For effective plans, data and information on wetland status, trends and characteristics are required that are not currently available.