%0 Articles %T Institutions and forest tenure in the Russian forest policy %A Torniainen, Tatu %D 2009 %J Dissertationes Forestales %V 2009 %N 95 %R doi:10.14214/df.95 %U http://dissertationesforestales.fi/article/1878 %X Forestry and the forest sector as a whole mirrors the political, economic and social changes that take place in a society. In Russia, the change of formal legal institutions in the forest sector has been fast since the beginning of 1990s. Since then, the Russian forest sector has been integrated more closely to the international market. The recognition of forests' role as the main renewable natural resource has fuelled increasing political and administrative development efforts. This study attempts to explain why the Russian forest policy has failed to effectively improve forest sector. The arrangement of property rights to forest resources in relation to forest tenure form the core of analysis. For this purpose, the institutional analysis framework (IAD) is adapted. A particular attention is paid to the content and enforcement of the Forest Code of 2007. Property rights, referred to as a bundle of rights in relation to a certain property, are key institutions facilitating economic actors’ actions. The models of path-dependency and transaction costs are used to explain institutional changes. Despite federal polity, the decision-making is highly centralised in Russia. The joint governance of forest resources between the federal and regional governments has been focal issues of the forest policy in post-Soviet Russia. Previous over cuttings, centralised forest administration, the separation of forestry and forest industries and the lack of markets are affecting current available forest policy options. The lack of transparent rules weakens the economic result of both the owner and tenant. In order to improve rule enforcement, the establishment of economic incentives in relations between, the state and private tenure holder, and the central and regional governments should be considered. Three main trends of the Russian forest policy can be identified: 1) the administrative decentralisation of forest management, 2) the increasing share of private long-term tenures, and 3) the consolidation of forest industries. Presumably, the establishment of new forest management regime will take years.