Digitalization of the forest industry

Government departments

• Roslesinforg FSBI
• Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz)
• FBU Avialesokhrana
• Russian Forest Protection Center (Roslesozashchita)

FSIS

• Federal State Forest System
• Digital Forest Platform
• ForestEGAIS Wood Accounting
• State Forest Register
• Forest Watch IS PAC
• Лесовосток.рф

Software products are highly specialized, disjointed, and difficult to use

Disadvantages of industry information systems:

• Lack of a unified forest industry regulatory reference system and approved exchange formats;
• Disparity of data on forests stored in different information systems of Rosleshoz subordinate institutions;
• lack of technological and methodological principles and means ensuring the unity of approaches to the development and operation of automated information systems in terms of the information used, formats of information exchange, technical and software solutions;
• Lack of specialized tools for analytical processing, modeling and visualization of industry information.

Timber Industry Complex of Russia

Main article: Timber industry of Russia

Unified Federal Forest Database of Russia

Main article: Unified Federal Database on Forests of Russia

2025: 6.5 million electronic documents, automatic public services and GLONASS on timber trucks. The head of Rosleskhoz spoke about the digitalization of the forest industry

In early December 2025, a meeting was held between the Chairman of the Government of the RFMikhail Mishustin and the head of the Federal Forestry Agency Ivan Sovetnikov. The meeting discussed the results of Rosleshoz's activities for 2025, including digitalization.

As indicated on the government's website, digitalization of the industry has become one of the key areas of the department's work. According to Sovetnikov, from January 1, 2025, the state forest register is maintained centrally in digital format using the federal state information system of the forest complex (FGIS LK).

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Фото: government.ru

According to the Advisers, more than a million public services have already been provided through the system, over 6.5 million electronic accompanying documents for 240 million cubic meters have been drawn up. m of wood. The system is integrated with the National Spatial Data System (NSPD) and the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN), which ensures accurate accounting of borders and eliminates conflicts in land use.

The head of Rosleskhoz also added that the transportation of wood is monitored in real time through a satellite system. In the GLONASS visibility zone are 82 thousand timber trucks.

The advisers also reported on the results of the fire hazardous season. According to him, the area of ​ ​ forest fires in 2025 amounted to 4.3 million hectares. The main burning, according to Sovetnikov, fell on Transbaikalia and Buryatia, where the difficult situation was caused by a long anticyclone and hard-to-reach relief.

Particular attention is also paid to the implementation of the federal project "Preservation of Forests," designed until 2030. According to Sovetnikov, in 2025, reforestation was carried out on an area of ​ ​ 1.3 million hectares, which exceeded the area of ​ ​ dead and cut down plantations by 308 thousand hectares.^[1]

2024

The new FSIS of the forest complex is being introduced on a federal scale. But there is a problem

From January 1, 2025, the federal state information system of the forest complex (FGIS LK) will begin to work on a federal scale, ensuring the digitalization of the entire forest complex management system. Its main functionality is the maintenance of the state forest register in electronic form, as a result of which reliable data on forests, forest plots, their use and protection should be obtained, and the quality of industry services should be improved. There is not much time left before the launch of the FGIS LK, but a number of problems remain unresolved, and one of the most acute is the provision of high-quality data in the system. Read more here.

The head of Rosleskhoz Ivan Sovetov reported to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin on the digitalization of the forest complex

One of the main directions of digitalization Rosleskhoz is the deployment of the Federal state Information System of the Forest Complex (FGIS LK). On October 23, 2024, the head of the department, Ivan Sovetov, reported to the chairman. Governments of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin

FGIS LK is a digital platform that combines dozens of public services, information from the State Forest Register (GLR), current data in the field of use, protection, protection, reproduction of forests, forest development, accounting for wood and its traceability, accounting for information on transactions with it. The platform, among other things, will provide state and municipal online services in the field of forest relations for individuals and legal entities, state and public organizations. As the Advisers noted, as of the end of October 2024, 99.8% of the borders of forestries and 98.5% of forest areas were included in the FGIS LK base.

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Фото: Website of the Government of the Russian Federation

Today, FGIS LK has been put into commercial operation. We connected all regions of Russia and ensured the download of retrospective data, - said the head of Rosleskhoz.

The launch of FGIS LK in Russia is scheduled for January 1, 2025. All the most popular forest services will be carried out using this platform and automatically get into the GLR, which will be conducted by Rosleskhoz.

In addition, from 2025, all timber carriers and forestry equipment will be equipped with the GLONASS system, which will allow you to see their movement in real time and identify violations on the basis of a ricoriented approach. Plus, according to Sovetnikov, the norm for the mandatory photofixation of all work done in the forest comes into force, which will increase the efficiency of government spending on forestry.^[2]

2023

Artificial intelligence becomes an aid in predicting fires

To combat forest fires, the Ministry of Information Development and Communications of the Perm Territory, on the basis of the Smart Forest digital platform, launched a module with Artificial Intelligence in pilot mode, which analyzes the likelihood of forest fires. Innogeotech announced this on December 26, 2023. Read more here.

Why the digitalization of the forest industry is slowly taking place in Russia

The process of digitalization of the forest industry in Russia is relatively slow, which is associated with a number of difficulties. This was announced in mid-October 2023 by industry participants, naming among the negative factors the deferred economic effect of investments and high risks.

It is said, in particular, that the timber industry (LPK) turned out to be the only significant industry in the Russian economy for which an industrial competence center (ICC) has not been formed. Meanwhile, Kirill Verevochkin, project manager at GREENIndustry and general director of ASP LLC, believes that such a structure could help in working on the Federal State Information System of the forest complex.

The process of digitalization of the forest industry in Russia is relatively slow

Another problem hindering the digitalization of the forest industry is the quality of the information collected. The fact is that data on the entire production chain is generated by a person, and therefore there is a high probability of errors and inaccuracies. In addition, when working in the forest, difficulties arise with lighting and communication. Sergei Merkulov, director of digital transformation at Segezha Group PJSC, believes that in order to improve the quality of incoming data, companies need to automate the sources of their receipt, namely, to use drones and computer vision tools. But this requires significant investment.

Participants in the Russian LPK are also cautious about the introduction of unmanned special equipment, which dumps the forest and cuts the branches. Operators of such machines work in difficult conditions, and large companies are looking for ways to replace people with automated systems. However, Andrei Dmitriyev, Managing Director - Head of the CIB Client Transformation Directorate at Sberbank, considers investments in such projects to be highly risky due to the difficulties of development and its high cost.

The "Forest Guard" video monitoring system began to work in Ugra

The "Forest Guard" video monitoring system began to work in Ugra. This was announced on May 31, 2023 by the Department of Information Technologies of Ugra. Read more here.

2021

Announcement of a device for determining the health of trees with GLONASS and an ultrasound scanner

In mid-October 2021, the Roslesinforg organization, specializing in the integrated solution of forest accounting and forest management tasks in the interests of the state, presented a device for collecting and processing data on trees. It is assumed that the new device will replace outdated foreign counterparts. Read more here.

"Schwabe" presented an air system for detecting foci of forest and underground fires

On July 21, 2021, Shvabe Holding of Rostec State Corporation presented a small-sized stabilized system of the enterprise, which detects foci of forest and underground fires from the air in conditions of smoke and complete darkness. Read more here.

2020

Rosleskhoz created a single IT platform for business-state interaction

In July 2020 Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz) , it announced the creation of a single IT platform for business interaction and. states It will become part of the all-Russian digital resource, which will be created at the Rosleshoz site. The system will help translate the interaction of the state and business in the forest sector into electronic format. Thus, the online service will allow investors to choose a forest plot on an interactive map and receive the right to use it using electronic auctions.

Main article: Project:Лесовосток.рф

Creation of a platform by combining LesEGAIS and remote monitoring IS Rosleskhoz

In Russia, by 2023, the Digital Forest platform will be created. It will combine forest management information systems LesEGAIS and remote monitoring IS of Rosleshoz. TAdviser was informed about this by the Ministry of Natural Resources on March 2, 2020.

Plans for test operation of subsystems "Forest Fund Accounting," "Forest Management" and "Payment Administration"

During the working visit, Ekaterina Karutina, Assistant Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District, noted the experience of the Perm Territory in creating the Smart Forest system and digitalizing the region as a whole. The main initiator of the digital development of the Kama region was the ex-governor of the region Maxim Reshetnikov, who headed the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation on January 21. This was announced on January 23, 2020 by the Ministry of Information Development and Communications of the Perm Territory.

Main article: Information system Smart Forest Ministry of Natural Resources of Perm Territory

2019: Forest Industry Information Systems

2018: RFID marking tests for valuable wood

On November 7, 2018, Rostec announced that the Roselectronics holding had successfully tested RFID tags for marking valuable wood. The use of radio frequency tags will automate the accounting of felling, track the transportation and sorting of wood, as well as reduce illegal felling. The customer of the project was the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

During the tests, the marks gave close to 100% results of identifying wood in the truck and car when read by a stationary RFID portal at a distance of up to 11 meters, and also passed strength tests by impact. High-strength marks for marking logs and lumber withstood a constant load of 1.5 tons and an impact load of up to 5 tons. Another advantage of the presented marking means is that they do not lose their properties at temperatures from -40 to + 65 degrees.

Main article: RFID-labels of increased strength for marking logs and lumber

2017

Internet of Things for loggers

Russia is one of the leading countries in terms of forest area. Wood reserves are estimated at 83 billion cubic meters. All forest exporting countries are talking about growing global demand. However, success will come to those who will manage green resources in a smart way, that is, using high technologies. According to Ivan Kozlov, director of IT at Metsa Group Russia, the time has come for virtual forests. As part of the "IT in Industry" section at the TAdviser forum in 2017, he said that today in a smartphone you can look at aerial photography of a forest, assess reserves, and consult an expert. It is also easy to sell the forest and order plant planting or cutting services. Simple - so far only for the native region of the Finnish timber industry concern. Today, the mother structure is actually a cooperative of 140 thousand private forest owners, and they have already appreciated the innovation. By mid-2017, about 28% of the concern's products were sold using digital tools, the demand for digital forest management services was even higher^[3].

In Finland, IT tools help businesses solve four important problems: find out exactly what is growing and where; what is prepared and when to be taken out; what was already taken out and how they used it. The developers expect to present a service for creating a digital forest model in the near future. Now two data collection technologies are being tested for this - drones armed with cameras and drones with lasers. According to Juha Yampanen, senior vice president of Metsa Group, in the future, every tree growing in Finland will be modeled, and ecosystem participants will be able to find out its location, length, diameter, species and other data.

There is no Internet in the Leningrad forests, so the data is not transmitted online, but is updated in the system weekly, but so far, as Ivan Kozlov notes, this is enough to plan work. Timber trucks are equipped with GPS sensors, which allows you to control loading, unloading and delivery.

Most forest regions in Russia don't even have that. According to the results of the first half of 2017, the damage to the revealed illegal logging, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, exceeded 4.5 billion rubles, but in fact it may be even greater. A number of reasons prevent Russian loggers from adopting the experience of neighbors who take into account each tree.

Forest Fire Detection - Forest Change Monitoring

The system was first used in 2015 in the Far Eastern Federal District. The Kedr system was developed by WWF of Russia based on the Russian Tsitorus platform. Automatic analysis of Earth remote sensing materials allows the detection of illegal logging thanks to automatic analysis of operational space images. Data is "packed" and can be delivered to foresters' mobile devices. In the first experiments, the "space algorithm" showed almost 80 percent efficiency; with an accuracy of 100%, "Cedar" was able to detect felling with an area of ​ ​ an average football field.

From forest fires Russia annually loses more than $1.8 billion. Skolkovo resident, Nizhny Novgorod company DiSiCon"," has developed a software and hardware complex for forest monitoring and early detection of fires in forests. The "" system Forest Watch IS PAC is a network of to the Internet connected to rotating thermal imagers and IP video cameras installed on towers, and software determining the coordinates of smoke and fires within a radius of 30 km. To reduce the load on the communication line, the data is processed in place - in "smart monitoring points," then transmitted to the system.

Not only forest farms or reserves, but also the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Defense, forest tenants (they account for 20% of forests in the country) see their potential customers in DiSiCon. According to the company's estimates, up to 30 thousand monitoring stations can be installed in the country. The global market is four times larger than the domestic market. It will be easier to conquer the Russian one, since the Forest Watch is included in the rating of recommended innovative equipment.

The Aerogeomatics company notes that two surveyors will be able to collect and enter data from 50 hectares of forest plantations per month into the system. An air laser scanner will cope with the task in a day. Mobile devices manufactured by the Krasnodar company AGM Sistema, lifted into the air, for example, by the hexacopter dji600, see in detail both the surface of the earth and biomass. Using a laser scanner, you can accurately calculate the number of trees.

2015: CRM Saves the Tree

Huge, irreparable harm to nature and the entire environment is caused by deforestation, from which paper is subsequently produced. In Western countries, eco-paper is used. Paper is reused by splitting it into fibers, cleaning and making new clean sheets. However, this trend in its main part has not yet reached Russia. But, in a small part, you can find companies that produce such eco-paper, and in the future sell it. But, such a "pleasure" costs twice as much as ordinary paper.

Few numbers and statistics. One tree makes 60 kg of paper, 24 office packs. There are 500 sheets in one such pack of office paper, which is 2.5 kg. The average company spends about 10-15 packs per month to issue various documentation, this is 5000-7500 sheets, this is 25-37.5 kg of paper. That is, in 2 months, the average company spends one tree for its paper needs. It turns out that at the lowest costs, the company spends 6 trees a year, which is 360 kg of paper.

According to the AIIM International Association:

• Annual office paper consumption requires 768 million trees.
• One employee, on average, "produces" about 160 kg of paper waste per year.
• 45% paper documents are discarded within 24 hours of their creation. While the volume of deforestation today is several times higher than the volume of its natural restoration.

To solve all these problems, there is one solution that is suitable for all companies in the digital age and in times of concern for the environment. This solution is the CRM system. CRM system is software for organizations designed to automate customer interaction strategies. This strategy allows you to increase sales levels, improve customer service, by saving information from the very beginning of communication with the client.

Notes