Volgograd Region Is Building a “Smart Forestry” System for All of Russia
Volgograd Region is developing a comprehensive digital forest-management platform that will unify fragmented datasets, automate routine processes, and help protect one of the country’s most important natural assets.
The first project of its kind in Russia was presented at the national Digital Forest Forum in Nizhny Novgorod. The platform combines multiple functions, ranging from processing citizen applications to monitoring wildfire conditions.
The Forest Map
How much does it cost to lease a forest plot? How quickly will a sanitary logging request be approved? Where did collected payments go? The new platform is designed to turn such questions into a set of transparent digital services. Citizens will be able to track their applications in real time and, importantly, gain visibility into the economics of the forestry sector. LesRegion (Forest Region) will move all forestry-management processes into a digital environment.
Above all, however, the system is intended as a tool for environmental oversight. Forestry-use analytics and real-time reporting will support conservation activities. The SPOLOKH and OgneRubezh systems will assess wildfire risks, while a unified forest map will make it easier to plan reforestation efforts.
The Volgograd Region digital ecosystem is integrated with the FGIS Forest Complex, the national forestry information system. Beginning January 1, 2025, the platform became fully operational across Russia, providing regions with a common digital standard. Errors or delays in data transmission are now effectively eliminated as the Federal Forestry Agency works toward digitizing every hectare of forest land.
A Virtual Space for a Real Forest
The first pilot versions of a digital forest registry were launched in Moscow, Arkhangelsk, and Ulyanovsk regions in 2023. A year later, Ulyanovsk Region introduced a full digital twin of its forests through a public interactive map that displays every change in land use. That same year, remote monitoring expanded to cover 300 million hectares nationwide. In Perm Region, the Smart Forest system, based on satellite monitoring, has been successfully tracking logging and reforestation activities while coordinating interactions among forestry stakeholders. Now, in Volgograd Region, geospatial systems, remote-sensing data, online registries, and analytics are becoming key tools for protecting the planet’s “green lungs.”
Digitalization does more than accelerate administrative processes. It also helps resolve longstanding issues buried in paper archives. As decades of records are transferred into digital form, overlapping property boundaries and legal inconsistencies inevitably come to light.
Forests Are the Foundation of Environmental Well-Being
Forests cover only about 4.3% of Volgograd Region’s territory, or approximately 481,900 hectares. Yet these forested areas play a critical role in preventing soil erosion, reducing drought impacts, slowing desertification, and preserving unique aquatic ecosystems.
About 35% of the region’s forests are man-made and were established through seedling planting. Volgograd Region ranks among Russia’s top five regions in implementing the federal compensatory reforestation program. Last year alone, more than 3,000 hectares of new forest were established, including nearly 1,500 hectares planted under a pilot compensatory-reforestation initiative.
The federal Forest Conservation project, part of the Ecological Well-Being national program, is aimed at preserving and expanding forest resources. The Volgograd initiative will continue to develop within that framework and has already attracted interest from other Russian regions where forests serve not only economic purposes but also essential soil-protection and climate-regulation functions. In the coming years, the platform is expected to incorporate drone data, mobile reporting tools for documenting violations, and image-analysis algorithms.
