| Summary: | Today, the Republic of Karelia forms part of the western border of European Russia, and is home to the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF), a highly biodiverse landscape of forests and watersheds. The Karelian Government is especially invested in the forestry industry owing to the rurality of the region and the economic necessity of these enterprises. Taking an Actor-Network-Theory approach, this thesis looks at changes in Russian forestry overall, with a particular focus on their social implications. Qualitative examples from the Republic of Karelia, a densely-forested western region, will be utilized to show how the Forest Codes of 2007 and the process of certification have drastically changed the actors and networks available in forestry and their surrounding communities. Originally forestry settlements were a simplistic chain of networks, tying industry and the community to the forest. With privatization and a growing interest in the certification process, local actors are now enrolled in a complex web of transnational actors and networks, which are themselves shifting and transforming.
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