The report provides guidelines for assessing the quality of forest governance at the regional level in Russia. It details a methodology involving a 5-step diagnostic exercise: 1) assembling an expert group representing key stakeholders, 2) conducting a preliminary survey, 3) processing survey results, 4) holding an open discussion workshop, and 5) documenting results. The methodology is based on adapting the FAO-PROFOR framework used previously in Russia to assess national forest governance. A new, shortened questionnaire was designed involving 50 questions under 3 pillars: policy and legal frameworks, planning and decision-making processes, and implementation and enforcement. The guidelines are intended to help schedule and standardize regional-level forest governance assessments in Russia during 2015-2016.

1. COUNTRY WORKPLAN FOR THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Area 1: Improving the FLEG planning and monitoring at the national, local,
and interagency levels
Activity 1.2.: Improving forest law enforcement and governance mechanisms
Task: 1.2.1 Assess the quality of forest governance
Report
Guidelines on assessing the quality of forest governance in
Russian regions
Prepared by A.S. Zakharenkov, E.P. Kuzmichev, M.I. Smetanina,
V.I. Nemova, A.N. Bobrinskiy, N.N. Kharchenko, M.A. Kopeikin, and M.N. Yagunov
under the leadership of E.P. Kuzmichev, Corresponding Member, Russian Academy of Science
Moscow, June 2015
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The content, findings, interpretations, and
conclusions of this publication are the sole responsibility of the FLEG II (ENPI East) Programme Team (www.enpi -fleg.org) and can
in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the
Implementing Organizations.

2. SUMMARY
In 2012, the FAO-PROFOR1
Framework for Assessing the Quality of Forest Governance was
successfully tested in the Russian Federation; it had been designed and customized by an
international team, including experts from the FFA. The testing enabled to identify key issues of
forest governance and increase their visibility among the public authorities. The study was
undertaken to assess the quality of forest governance at the national level. However, the
decentralization of forest governance preconditions high importance of region-specific quality of
forest administration because the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, adopted in 2007,
delegates key powers in this area to Russian regions. Some participants of the testing exercise
expressed interest in its adaptation for assessing the quality of forest governance at the level of a
Russian region.
Under the FLEG II Program, experts from the World Bank adapted the tool, used to assess the
quality of forest governance at the national level, to apply it for the same purpose but the level of
a Russian region. They prepared a new, shorter questionnaire. This Report presents guidelines on
how to assess the quality of forest governance in a Russian region. The questionnaire-based
survey is scheduled for the second half of 2015/2016.
The diagnostic exercise of assessing the quality of forest governance will be based on the FAO-
PROFOR Framework as customized for such assessments at the level of a Russian region and
will consist of the following 5 steps: (i) putting together an expert/respondent group, (ii)
conducting a preliminary survey of the group, (iii) processing of the preliminary survey results,
(iv) holding an open discussion, and (v) documenting the results.
This Report contains a detailed substantive description of each step.
It is demonstrated that the role of the experts/respondents, adopting this or that judgement, is
decisive; therefore, to minimize the risks of biased judgements, it is necessary to take a very
thorough approach to selecting experts to be included in such an expert/respondent group. They
will be selected on the basis of the following criteria: they should possess needed theoretical and
practical knowledge of forest management and forest use; they should present the visions of the
following key forest stakeholder groups in a given Russian region: regional governments,
regional forest management authorities; timber business; forest NGOs; and forest research
community. It is intended to hold a preliminary survey of a limited number of participants from
the expert group to prepare for an open discussion. The main objectives of the survey are: to seek
motivated opinions of the experts and identify the variation in assessments of different aspects of
regional forest governance; to identify questions which yield the same responses from different
stakeholder groups; to identify questions which are differently responded and are subject to
discussion at the workshop to arrive at a consensus-based opinion. To conduct the survey, it is
planned to use a questionnaire for rapid assessment of forest governance. Drawing on the
experience gained earlier, it is recommended that the following three surveying methods should
be applied: 1) face-to-face interviews; 2) personal questionnaire-based surveys; and 3)
anonymous questionnaire-based surveys through a web-site.
Strengths and weaknesses of these surveying methods are presented.
The experience of the Forest Governance Diagnostics Project in Russia shows that a workshop is
the most appropriate format for an open discussion of preliminary survey results and arrival at
1
PROFOR is the World Bank-based Program on Forests

3. consensus-based assessments of participating stakeholders. Only this format enables various
representatives of civil society, forest stakeholders to share opinions and arrive at a shared vision
of specific aspects of forest governance. The report presents recommendations on how to hold
such workshops.
A new, significantly shortened questionnaire was designed. It includes 50 questions under 3
pillars, corresponding to those of the PROFOR Framework:
PILLAR 1: POLICY, LEGAL, REGULATORY AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS;
PILLAR 2: PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES;
PILLAR 3: IMPLEMENTATION, ENFORCEMENT AND COMPLIANCE.
The questionnaire includes additional questions to be used as indicators of forest management
performance, corresponding to the indicators, used by the FFA to evaluate the performance of
Russian regions, executing the federal powers, delegated to them.