ИСТИНА

Area of tundra in Russia is 280 million hectares (16% of the land in the country). Carbon stocks of humus and peat of the soil vary from 100 to 200 tons of Carbon per hectare for different types of tundra, total carbon storages in soils of tundra in Russia is 28.6 Gigatons. The major part of the tundras of the world is located within the limits of permafrost distribution. Degradation of permafrost, instrumentally observed by currently in many tundra regions, is reflected in the increase of the permafrost temperature, the increase of seasonal thawing depth and activation of the destructive processes. Permafrost is the reservoir, preserving the greenhouse gases, organic matter which is the substrate for greenhouse gases production and microbial community since the time of freezing for millennia. Permafrost degradation under climate warming causes the release of these agents, which most often leads to increase in the greenhouse gases emissions by terrestrial ecosystems such as tundra. The human modification of ecosystems on permafrost into the sources of greenhouse gases occurs more rapidly than natural. The main reasons for this are the disturbance of the thermoinsulating covers and thermal regime of permafrost during construction operations, and thermal contact of constructions and permafrost during the exploitation. The impact of human on the ecosystems on permafrost could be reduced by permafrost environment management, which is the application of measures aimed to reduce the thermal effect from constructions. Peatlands are the most significant terrestrial long-term removals of atmospheric carbon. They affect the fluxes of methane and nitrous oxide. Climate change substantially alters these functions, which further enhanced by the impact of human. Degradation of peatlands is a constantly growing factor enhancing the emissions of the greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Development of measures aimed to management and restoration of peatlands is essential for both adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Ranking first on the planet by area of peatlands (more than 140 millions of hectares, and more than 370 millions of hectares when taking into account waterlogged shallow peaty lands) and providing ¼ to ½ of carbon storages in peatlands, Russia substantially contributed to increased attention to peatlands from the CBD, the Ramsar Convention, and FCCC Parties during the last 10 years. Concerning the adaptation the issues associated with the most vulnerable peatlands, located in critical conditions (permafrost, arid regions, peat fires), or subject to the impact from human activities are urgent. Concerning the mitigation efforts should be aimed at development of methodology of estimation and elaboration of measures to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases resulting from protection, optimizing the use, irrigation and restoration of peatlands. Steppe, grassland, and its anthropogenic modification on chernozems, including fallow and grazing occupy 220 millions of hectares in Russia. These are the most productive ecosystems in temperate latitudes, with 7-10 tons of Carbon per hectare per year, and total net production exceeding that in northern and southern taiga belt. Natural steppe stores huge stocks of carbon in chernozems as humus and organic compounds. Carbon stocks in soils of steppe ecosystem in Russia (about 13% of the territory of the country) estimates 130 Gigatons of Carbon, which is 30% of carbon stocks in soils of Russia. Almost complete plowing of European steppes by the end of 19th century and large-scale exploration of virgin steppes in Volga, Southern Urals, south of Western Siberia, Northern Kazakhstan and Altay in the middle of 20th century were the two crisis, which led to release of huge volumes of carbon from chernozems, drastic change of albedo, transpiration and flow of steppe rivers. All of these factors resulted in emission of significant volumes of the greenhouse gases. The other important disturbance or the steppe ecosystem, resulting in emission of carbon is wildfires. Steppe and agricultural fires are substantial source of black carbon in the atmosphere. The role of Russian territory for this is especially high. It is estimated for 2004-07 78-84% of black carbon entering the atmosphere each spring has originated from agricultural fires in Russia. Whereas the main agricultural region of Russia, and thus the primary region where fires are used is the steppe. Russian Federation pays serious attention to studies of climate regulative functions of terrestrial ecosystems. Russian Academy of Science (Institute of Geography, Institute of Forest Science, Center of Ecology and Productivity of Forests, etc.), Russian Hydrometeorology Agency, administrations of protected areas, non-governmental organizations, and other organizations perform different programs and projects aimed at finding effective solutions in tundra, peatland, and steppe management under climate change. The results of these studies identified high priority challenges necessary for further research and analysis. Nevertheless the coordination of international research efforts is unsuccessful to preserve and effectively manage climate regulating functions of these ecosystems under climate change.