Warsaw (Poland), November 11, 2013 – In climate talks opening this week, the Russian Special Representative of the President on Climate, Alexander Ivanovich Bedritskiy, made an official announcement regarding Russia’s position on the main agenda of the 19th Conference of Parties (COP 19) to the 1992 United Nationas Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 9th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP 9) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

In his speech, Mr.Bedritskiy noted that one of the necessary conditions to start defining national commitments is an agreement on the parameters and the mechanism accounting for obligations of land use, changes in land use and forestry: "The Russian Federation has the most extensive forests in the world (one fifth of the world's forests). Russia accounts for 70% of the boreal (taiga) forests, and a quarter of the virgin forests, in the world. The forests in Russia are important for global security, with their climate- and water-conservation playing a key role in preserving biodiversity and maintaining other biosphere functions for the planet. The Russian Federation supports the considerations of the role of forests in the new agreement. In our opinion, we need to strengthen the coordination of international scientific efforts for the conservation and effective management of the climate-regulating functions of terrestrial ecosystems."

The regional “European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) East Countries Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) II Program" promotes sustainable forest governance, management, and protection for forests in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. It ensures the regions’ forests contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation, to ecosystems and biodiversity protection, and to sustainable livelihoods and income sources for local populations and national economies.

The 19th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 9th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP 9) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol is being held in Warsaw (Poland) from 11 to 22 November.

The full text of the statement is available on the website of the President of Russia: http://state.kremlin.ru/administration/19598