Dynamics of the carbon budget of forests of federal districts of Russian Federation

The calculations of forest carbon budget of federal districts (FD) of Russia is performed using data of State forest registry and archive materials of state forest fund accounts. Total carbon reserves on forested lands of Russia at 01.01.2015 were 123.77±18.93 Gt C. The input to national forest carbon reserves were maximal in Siberian (36.4%) and Far East (35.2) FD. The next were North-West (11.3%), Ural (9.3%), Volga (4.4%), Central (2.8%), North-Caucasian (0.3%) and South (0.2%) FD. Inputs to national forest carbon sink (206.10±66.86 Mt C year-1) were by FD: Siberian 39.3%, Far East 15.1%, North-West 12.4%, Volga 12.1%, Ural 11.0%, Central 8.8%. Two groups of FD can be selected based on average carbon sink value: 1) with range 0.64-0.85 t C ha-1 year-1 (Central, South, North-Caucasian, Volga), 2) with range 0.11-0.33 t C ha-1 year-1 (North-West, Ural, Siberian, Far East). Carbon sink to forest of all FD was minimal in 1988-1993. The decrease of carbon losses with felling in 1993-2000 led to increase of carbon sink in majority of FD. FD can be subdivided by value of carbon sink increase on 2 groups: 1) with considerable increase (more then 86%) including North-West, Ural, Siberian, Far East; 2) with moderate increase (4-46%) including Central, South, North-Caucasian, Volga.