Exploring the views of forest industry companies on the long-term forestry development in Russia: A case study in Republic of Karelia

Forest industry companies are the chief exploiters of forest resources, and their day-to-day decisions and actions may have major implications for the sustainable development of forests, and for those who depend on them. Russian companies have a special place in this regard as they operate in the most forested country in the world and the local forest resources have considerable global effects. In this study, the concerns and views of an expert group from Russian wood harvesting companies in regard to forests and forestry development in the long term are scrutinized through a case study in Republic of Karelia, one of the main forest regions in Russia. The study employed a two-stage survey carried out by interviewing representatives from the companies in order to identify critical issues that they think will influence long-term forestry development. The survey combined an unstructured interview approach for the first stage and cumulative voting (CV) for the second. The identified data were summarized into a PESTE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Environmental) framework to obtain a general overview of the macro environments in the study area. The results show that the companies' views were mainly influenced by the technological, political and economic issues faced by the Russian forestry sector last decades, while social and environmental dimensions were considered of minor significance. The companies did not refer to the concept of sustainable development. Forestry was largely associated with the management of own business demands.