"The Russian forest is, without exaggeration, an ecological shield for our planet," Putin said during a visit to the northwestern republic of Karelia.

"We must pay particular attention to the protection and regeneration of the forest," he said in remarks broadcast on NTV television.

Russia boasts nearly one-fourth of the world's forests, but adequately preserving them requires funds that the government does not have, Putin said.

Putin said last month that 15 percent of Russia's territory could be classified an environmental disaster zone and called on his government to make ecological protection a priority.

Yet Russia has still not ratified the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases and aides to Putin have warned that ratification could harm the country's economy.

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions held responsible for global warming by 2008-2012 in relation to their 1990 levels.

US rejection of the Kyoto Protocol has made Russia's ratification all the more essential for the protocol's supporters since the treaty can come into force only after it has been ratified by countries that accounted for at least 55 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions in 1990.

SPACE.WIRE