Siberian wildfire dilemma: controlling the uncontrollable?

The intense Siberian wildfires in the summer of 2019 had devastating effects. Here the dynamics of these wildfires is described taking into consideration the legal act that determines modern forest management in Russia – the Forest Code-2006. This changed the approach to wildfire management in Russia by introducing control zones, where authorities can legally ignore wildfires due to their inaccessibility or remoteness from firefighting infrastructure. Remote sensing and open reports show that most wildfires (60–98%, depending on the day) in Siberia in 2019 were in control zones. Notably, the largest percentages were recorded during the crucial phases of the wildfires, including their rapid spread in June (97–98%) and during the peak from on 2 August (96%), when 3,012,082 of 3,134,128 hectares were on fire. The decision not to fight these wildfires was debatable given the considerable social concerns expressed online during the peak of the wildfires, which later resulted in civic petitions in favour of fighting wildfires more efficiently in Siberia. Based on previous reports by experts there is an urgent need to incorporate a more scientific approach in defining control zones in Siberia, to balance the current economic and socioenvironmental considerations. Otherwise, the control zones of Russian forests (occupying 48% of Russia’s and 11% of the global forest area, respectively) will remain a critical blind spot in climate change mitigation plans that aim to utilize Siberia’s carbon sequestration potential.