One of the first priority areas among joint East/West research programs is the rational use of natural resources and sustainable development of regions. In the boreal zone of North America and Eurasia forests are economically very important and, at the same time highly vulnerable to disturbances. Because of its size and ecological functions the boreal forest zone and its most dynamic disturbance factor - fire - play an important role in ecosystem processes on global scale. Interest within the global change research community in Northern Eurasia (Fennoscandia, European Russia, Siberia, and the Far East of Russia) has grown dramatically in the last few years. It is a vast area about which very little is known. It is a region where temperature rise due to anthropogenic climate forcing is predicted to be the greatest, and where the consequent feedbacks to the atmosphere are potentially large. In addition, it is poised to undergo rapid economic development, which may lead to large and significant changes to its land cover. Much of this interest in Northern Eurasia, as in the high latitude regions in general, is centerd on its role in the global carbon cycle, which is likely to be significantly affected under global change. New research initiatives between Western and Eastern countries have been designed to address a series of phenomena, problems and management solutions.

Inhalt
I. Introduction.- Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia. Ecological Impacts and Links to the Global System.- II. Fire in Boreal Ecosystems: History and Patterns.- Wild Hearth. A Prolegomenon to the Cultural Fire History of Northern Eurasia.- Retrospective Analysis of Natural Fire Regimes in Landscapes of Eastern Fennoscandia and Problems in Their Anthropogenic Transformation.- The Impact of Fire on Finnish Forests in the Past and Today.- The Role of Paleofire in Boreal and Other Cool-Coniferous Forests.- Fire and Climate History in the Central Yenisey Region, Siberia.- Reconstruction of Summer Temperatures with a Circumpolar Tree Ring Network.- III. Statistics and Dynamics.- Analysis of the Distribution of Forest Fires in Russia.- Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Forest Fires in Siberia.- Major 1992 Forest Fires in Central and Eastern Siberia. Satellite and Fire Danger Measurements.- IV. Geographical Analysis.- Fire Ecology of Pine Forests of Northern Eurasia.- Pyrological Regimes and Dynamics of the Southern Taiga Forests in Siberia.- The Role of Fire in Forest Cover, Structure, and Dynamics in the Russian Far East.- Importance of Fire in Forest Formation under Various Zonal-Geographic Conditions of the Far East.- Fires in Ecosystems of the Far Northeast of Siberia.- Fire-Induced Transformations in the Productivity of Light Coniferous Stands of the Trans-Baikal Region and Mongolia.- Forest Fires in the Eastern Trans-Baikal Region and Elimination of their Consequences.- V. Pyrological Classification of Landscapes, Sites and Fuel Types.- Pyrological Zoning: Principles, Methods, and Significance of the Role of the Geographical Factor in the Problem of Wildland Fires.- Forest Fuel Maps.- Sectoral and Zonal Classes of Forest Cover in Siberia and Eurasia as a Basis of Clarifying Landscape Pyrological Characteristics.- VI. Fire Characteristics: Behavior and Modelling.- The Extreme Fire Season in the Central Taiga Forests of Yakutia.- Forest Fire Spread as a Probabilistic Modelling Problem.- Information Technology for Forest Fire Danger Rating Evaluation.- Mathematical Modelling of Forest Fires.- Mathematical Modelling and Optimization of Forest Fire Localizaton Processes.- A Mathematical Model of Spread of High-Intensity Forest Fires.- VII. Ecological Effects of Fire.- Burned Forest Area Type Classification.- Fires and Soil Formation.- Soil Microbial Biomass: Determination and Reaction to Burning and Ash Fertilization.- Ecological Effects of Peat Fire on Forested Bog Ecosystems.- Effects of Fire on the Regeneration of Larch Forests in the Lake Baikal Basin.- Post-Fire Mortality and Regeneration of Larix sibirica and Larix dahurica in Conditions of Long-Term Permafrost.- The Main Trends of Post-Fire Succession in Near-Tundra Forests of Central Siberia.- Fire Effects on Larch Forests of Central Evenkia.- Ecological Estimation of Forest Succession Patterns in Central Angara Region.- Forest Formation Processes after Fire in the Volga Region.- Response of the Endemic Insect Fauna to Fire Damage in Forest Ecosystems.- Simulation of Forest Insect Outbreaks.- Fire Vegetation Wildlife Interactions in the Boreal Forest.- Fire Ecology in Sweden and Future Use of Fire for maintaining Biodiversity.- Impacts of Prescribed Burning on Soil Fertility and Regeneration of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.).- VIII. Fire, Atmosphere, and Climate Change.- Composition of Smoke from North American Boreal Forest Fires.- The Effects of Forest Fires on the Concentration and Transport of Radionuclides.- Fire Weather Climatology in Canada and Russia.- RiskAnalysis in Strategic Planning. Fire and Climate Change in the Boreal Forest.- Fire-Climate Change Hypotheses for the Taiga.- Annex I.- Understanding Boreal Ecosystems Opening Remarks by E.W. Ross, International Conference Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia (Krasnoyarsk 1993).- Annex II.- International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) Stand Replacement Fire Working Group.- Annex III.- Fire Research in the Boreal Forests of Eurasia: A Component of a Global Fire Research Program.