Putin Demands Inclusion Of Russian Forests In Any Climate Deal - AFP

[hatrack]

A global warming pact to be agreed next month in Copenhagen must take into account the carbon dioxide absorption potential of Russia's sprawling forests, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"Are we ready to support Denmark's efforts in the post-Kyoto period? We are ready to do this," Putin said at a press conference with visiting Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen. "But there are two conditions: all countries must sign it. And Russia will insist that the capacity of its forests for absorbing carbon dioxide must be taken into account."

Putin's conditions highlighted another impediment on the already-difficult path to reaching an agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is due to take place in Copenhagen on December 7-18.

The demand spells out a position previously adopted by Russia under the Kyoto Protocol, whose current pledges expire at the end of 2012. Russia and other countries demanded big concessions on forestry in 2001 when Kyoto's complex rulebook was being negotiated. They argued that forests are a bulwark against global warming as trees absorb carbon dioxide -- the principal greenhouse gas -- through the natural process of photosynthesis.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/091102162442.3rbgh4pk.html

[excess_3]

1. same old carbon-offset BS

everybody wants a
handout from the US