Russia comes in from cold on climate, launches forest plan
Associated Press
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The morning sun shines through a forest outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. More than two-thirds of Sakhalin Island is forested, and authorities there have set an ambitious goal of making the island carbon neutral by 2025. Tree growth will absorb as much planet-warming carbon dioxide as the islands half-million residents and businesses produce, and Moscow hopes to apply the idea to the whole country, which has more forested area than any other nation. (AP Photo/Igor Dudkovskiy)This image provided by the European Space Agency and captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission shows one of the many forest fires in the Sakha Republic in Siberia, on Sunday, July 25, 2021. The image has been processed using the mission's shortwave-infrared band to identify the active fires. Wildfires that burn millions of hectares of forest are becoming increasingly frequent in Russia, partly due to climate change. (European Space Agency via AP)FILE - A member of a volunteer crew mops up spot fires at Gorny Ulus area west of Yakutsk, in the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, in far northeastern Russia, July 22, 2021. Wildfires that burn millions of hectares of forest are becoming increasingly frequent in Russia, partly due to climate change. (AP Photo/Ivan Nikiforov, File)FILE - Volunteers prepare to douse a forest fire in the republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, in Russias Far East on July 17, 2021. Wildfires that burn millions of hectares of forest are becoming increasingly frequent in Russia, partly due to climate change. (AP Photo/Ivan Nikiforov, File)FILE - A volunteer works to douse a forest fire in the republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, in Russias Far East on Saturday, July 17, 2021. Wildfires that burn millions of hectares of forest are becoming increasingly frequent in Russia, partly due to climate change. (AP Photo/Ivan Nikiforov, File)Water flows in the Taynoye Reservoir near the city of Kholmsk, Sakhalin Island, in Russia's Far East, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020. The island is a testing ground for Russia's efforts to reconcile its prized fossil fuel industry with the need to do something about climate change. (AP Photo/Igor Dudkovskiy)Downed trees are visible after illegal logging near Arkhyz, in the Northern Caucasus region of Russia, on June 3, 2019. Trees absorb planet-warming carbon dioxide, and Russia has more forested areas than any other country on Earth. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)This photo shows the Zhdanko ridge near the village of Pilvo, on Sakhalin Island in Russias Far East, on Friday, June 18, 2021. The island is a testing ground for Russia's efforts to reconcile its prized fossil fuel industry with the need to do something about climate change. (AP Photo/Igor Dudkovskiy)Activists walk through the forest near illegal logging near Arkhyz, in the Northern Caucasus region of Russia, on June 3, 2019. Trees absorb planet-warming carbon dioxide, and Russia has more forested areas than any other country on Earth. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)FILE - Volunteers and employees extinguish a forest fire outside the village of Magaras, 87 kilometers (61 miles) west of Yakustk, the capital of the republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, in Russias Far East, on July 18, 2021. Wildfires that burn millions of hectares of forest are becoming increasingly frequent in Russia, partly due to climate change. (AP Photo/Alexey Vasilyev, File)FILE - In this image released by the Kremlin Press Service via Sputnik on Sept. 26, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin stands in a forest during a vacation in early September, 2021 after visiting the Primorye and Amur Region of the Russian Far East. Putin acknowledged that climate change requires real actions and way more attention, and he has sought to position the world's biggest fossil fuel exporter as a leader in the fight against global warming. The country's vast forests are key to this idea. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)Trees line the heavily forested Nevelsky Pass on the southwestern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia, on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. The island became a testing ground for Russia's efforts to reconcile its prized fossil fuel industry with the need to do something about climate change. (AP Photo/Igor Dudkovskiy)Natalia Lukina, the director of the Centre of Ecology and Productivity of Forests, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. The heavily forested Sakhalin Island, north of Japan, has become a testing ground for Russia's efforts to reconcile its prized fossil fuel industry with the need to do something about climate change. One problem is that nobody knows how many trees are in Russia's forests, and Lukina said Russia's network of emissions monitoring stations is likewise limited. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
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The morning sun shines through a forest outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. More than two-thirds of Sakhalin Island is forested, and authorities there have set an ambitious goal of making the island carbon neutral by 2025. Tree growth will absorb as much planet-warming carbon dioxide as the islands half-million residents and businesses produce, and Moscow hopes to apply the idea to the whole country, which has more forested area than any other nation. (AP Photo/Igor Dudkovskiy)
