Decree No. 52 of the Council of Ministers validating State Program "Belarusian Forest" for 2021-2025.

State Program "Belarusian Forest" for 2021-2025 is a multi-sectoral nationwide policy document aimed at sustainable development of the forestry sector of the national economy. Reproduction of forests is one of the most important fields of forestry It makes it possible to implement the principle of sustainable forest management. It is strategically important to ensure artificial and natural reforestation in approximately equal proportions. The ecological-economic model of sustainable development of the hunting economy includes the consistency of long-term and current objectives of hunting use, effective organization of the hunting economy, preservation of the natural productivity and biological diversity of hunting grounds. This model is based on the methodological principles of the formation of the strategy of sustainable development of the hunting economy, the main provisions of the international agreements on the conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of wild fauna species.
The scope of the State Program is to ensure the formation of highly productive and sustainable forests, rational use of forests and forest resources.
The scope of the State Program will be achieved by solving the following tasks: (a) improvement of the forest resources accounting system; (b) sustainable forest management and maintenance of the forest fund in proper sanitary condition; (c) increasing accessibility and availability of forest resources to meet the needs of raw material production and providing ecosystem services; (d) sustainable hunting management; and (e) modernization of timber, woodworking, furniture, pulp and paper, and wood chemistry industries, and improvement of their efficiency and competitiveness; and (f) creation of a personnel reserve for the progressive development of the forestry industry.
Expected results: (a) forest cover of the national territory will reach 40.3 percent; (b) the volume of timber harvest will increase up to 3.2 cubic meters from 1 hectare; (c) the average volume of timber extraction will increase up to 225 cubic meters per hectare; (d) at least 580.3 kilometers of new forest roads will be built; (e) the number of moose will reach 100 percent of the optimal number of this species, red deer - 37 percent, roe deer - 80 percent; (f) the production of paper and cardboard in physical terms will increase 2.1 times, pulp production will increase 1.7 times, and the production of board products will increase 1.1 times; (g) furniture production (at actual prices) will be 1.3 times higher than in than in 2020.
Implementation of the State Program envisages performance of the following activities and operations: (a) increasing the level of automation of collection, processing and analysis of forest management and forestry information, including the creation of automated workplaces; (b) improvement (creation) of a digital platform for forest inventory, creation of a unified information space in the field of forestry relations based on databases, technologies for their maintenance and use of information and communication systems and networks; (c) selection and use in seed production of forest plants of the most productive and stable specimens of the main forest-forming species and their populations; (d) continuation of replacement of the first generation forest seed plantations and organization of third-generation forest seed plantations; (e) organizational and territorial optimization of forest nurseries and improvement of their material base; (f) optimization of the ratio of planting material grown in open and closed ground of the tree nurseries; (g) increasing the area of forest crops created with the use of planting material with closed root system; (h) increasing the share of mixed forest crops in the total volume of artificial reforestation and afforestation up to 78 percent; (i) gradual and selective felling, using appropriate systems and types of thinning and types of final felling, envisaging the possibility of natural regeneration of tree species; and (j) optimization of firefighting equipment of the territory on the basis of the development of a network of automated forest fire detection equipment.