Another round of climate negotiations within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change finished in Bonn, Germany. One of its main objectives was to facilitate the preparation of the text of the future Paris agreement, which is due to replace the Kyoto protocol. The draft document became shorter, yet the contradictions did not decrease, in neither number, nor magnitude
On December 5 and 6, the “World Village of Alternatives”, an enormous expo-style event showcasing alternative climate-related solutions for settlements took place in Montreuil, a municipality in the Eastern part of the “big Paris”, as part of the UN Climate Summit, COP21.
On December 4, the official Russian delegation organized an event within the frame of COP-21entitled “The Role of Russian Forests in Adsorbing Greenhouse Gases: Policies and Actions”. Russia has 70% of all boreal forests and 25% of world forest resources. The policy of forest preservation and restoration and efficient forest management plays a great role in reduction of concentration of greenhouse gases: if we do not do this, the absorbing capacity of forests might go down to zero.
Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill was ranked best among Russian companies in terms of climate responsibility, based on their performance in 2015. This came as the result of CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) evaluation, an international project that makes data on carbon emissions public.
Peat bogs play an important role in climate regulation. If peatlands are in a live wet status, they can efficiently preserve the carbon. More than this, when drained peatlands are moistened again, carbon dioxide emissions go down. Drained peatlands emit disproportionally more of carbon dioxide then any other type of land using. Experts invited by the Nordic Council of Ministers told this at the Paris COP-21 negotiations on climate changes.
France is expecting Russia’s support in preparation of the new climate agreement during the upcoming Conference of Parties to UNFCCC (COP21). Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, handed the invitation to this event to President Putin, on behalf of the French President François Hollande.
The Russian Social-Ecological Union and many its member organizations have joined the appeal to delegations to the UN Climate conference in Paris. The letter was prepared by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and some other international NGOs and sets forth ten reasons why climate initiatives should not include large hydropower projects.