US$300B forest damage in recent Russian wildfires

Forest damage from this summer’s disastrous wildfires may have cost Russia up to US$300 billion, according to a Moscow-based conservation advocate. Alexei Zimenko, general director of the Biodiversity Conservation Center, said that Russia lost about US$25,000 per hectare, for a total of about $300 billion, based on timber market prices and reforestation costs.

Earlier, several economists estimated the disaster could cost the country between 0.5% and 1% of its GDP, or roughly US$7 billion to US$15 billion. So far this year, 29,500 fires spanning 935,286 ha. in Russia have already been registered, according to Russia’s Emergencies Ministry. However, environmentalist estimates are much bigger, suggesting the fires covered an area of 10 million ha to 12 million ha, PressTV reported.

Source: www.forestweb.com