The conference will convene 1,200 experts from 43 countries in Moscow between September 29 and October 3, though Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said Kyoto is not scheduled to be on the agenda.

"The conference is not linked to the Kyoto protocol ratification," he said. "It has to do with advancing the scientific level in research on this problem."

The treaty on the reduction of greenhouse gases has been signed by more than 100 countries but to come into effect requires the ratification of countries representing at least 55 percent of the total of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

The United States has refused to ratify the treaty and Russia's signature is needed to pass the threshold.

Last week European deputies urged Russia to ratify the pact, or face the risk of losing major investments by European firms.

"The time for action is right now," the European Parliament's rapporteur on the environment, Jorge Oliveira da Silva, told a press conference in Moscow on September 18. "Kyoto is a matter of emergency."

TERRA.WIRE