Many of these facts and events are accessible on-line now. Please VISIT THE WEBSITE ?Belovezhskaya Pushcha ? 21st Century? (http://bp21.org.by/) AND JOIN OUR EFFORTS TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE THIS FOREST. YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS VERY WELCOME.

Please we do ask you to forward and distribute this information about the new website accessible to your friends and colleagues, as far as possible.

It is also very important that today this is the only website devoting the specially protected natural area in Belarus and widely showing its unique nature and problems.

No country in the world is able to organize effective use and protection of their forests without detailed information about the state of forest landscapes. The previous map ("Forest landscapes of the USSR") issued in 1990, was based on quite old materials and represented the situation of 25-30 years old.

A new map "Forest Landscapes of Russia" has combined four existing maps chosen so that to provide most up-to-date and detailed data.

First of all, the new map demonstrates that most valuable in the industry coniferous forests were preserved only in sparsely populated and difficult of access regions of the European North and Siberia. While in the most fertile forest lands spruce ?nd pine are replaced by the second growth, birch and aspen forests, which can’t be used effectively in the forest industry. At present the territory with the second deciduous growth amounts to 31% of the total forest area in Russia.

The main reason of mass forest degradation is the extensive forest use that prevailed in our country in the last century. This includes large-scaled clear cutting, a low quality of reforestation works and not sufficient care about saplings.

"It’s evident that potentialities of extensive logging in Russia are almost exhausted. – says Alexey Yaroshenko, Greenpeace Russia forest campaign coordinator. – Almost all suitable for logging forests are developed. The further growth of logging volumes of coniferous forests without considerable improvement of the forestry quality is environmentally dangerous and it will lead to further degradation of forest resources."

"To enable the forest industry to develop, the government has to pay much more attention to the forestry", – says Mr. Yaroshenko.

"The presented map is another evidence of how significant "the human trace" in Russian forests is. It presents not only territories, where economic activities caused the replacement of coniferous species by deciduous ones, but also vast areas, where forests are totally destroyed. Such deforested territories take about 15% of "potentially forested" landscapes of Russia.

This competition is a part of program for reduction of illegal hunting and other nature protection violations.

Competition will last until January 20, 2005. Any school student from Amur region may participate. He or she must write a letter to a person practicing illegal hunting or fishing, illegal logging etc. The letter should explain what kind of harm brings such actions to nature and people, how poaching affects planet’s future. Authors of three best letters will receive prizes.

ALL letters will be delivered to the addressees – they will be given to poachers caught by Nature Guards.

"The poaching problem is a serious issue here, especially in the rural areas. We want both children and grown-ups to think about it. May be at least some of them will change their attitude to illegal hunt and other kind of poaching," – says Yana Peretolchina, leader of environmental education team of the Nature Guards.

OJSC Kay became 12 Russian forestry company certified according to FSC certification demands.
OJSC Kay is located in Chus settlement of Verkhnekamsky county of Kirov region and has 124 ha of forest in long-term rent at Kaysky leskhoz territory. Smartwood did certification.
Certification was supported by IKEA. This company has business in Russia and is interested in sustainable and environmentally sound wood and wood-product production in Russia.

OJSC Kay prepared for certification for more than two years. Enterprise had to do a lot of work before it received FSC certificate. Pre-certification assessment was done in March 2003, and number of conditions to comply with were put forward. Certificate was given for five years. Each year OJSC Kay will be inspected for compliance with FSC terms.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson, the world’s No. 3 and 6 mobile phone makers, said they needed further scientific evidence that radio waves harm body cells and damage DNA.

The results of the European Union-funded study, which was made available on a Web site this week by the coordinating German institute Verum, first needed to be published in a scientific magazine, said Sony Ericsson, Japanese- Swedish venture.

"Then, the published results have to be balanced with the total picture of research. There are other studies published that failed to show any link between radio signals and DNA damages," the company said in an e-mailed response to questions.

A Motorola spokesman in Washington said his company was also "awaiting evaluation by the scientific community".

Verum said it was in talks with several magazines and a publication decision was expected within months.

The four-year research project measured a significant increase in single and double-strand DNA breaks in human and animal cells after being exposed to electromagnetic fields that are typical for mobile phones.

The damage could not always be repaired by the cell. DNA carries the genetic material of an organism and its different cells. "There was remaining damage for future generation of cells," project leader Franz Adlkofer told Reuters.

He said the laboratory study did not prove that mobile phones are a risk to health but concluded that more research is needed to see if effects can also be found outside a lab.

PREVIOUS STUDIES

Previous independent studies into the health effects of mobile phone radiation have found it may have some effect on the human body, such as heating up the brain and causing headaches and nausea, but no study that could be independently repeated has proved that radiation had permanent harmful effects.

About 650 million mobile phones are expected to be sold to consumers this year, and over 1.5 billion people around the world use one.

Motorola said two other major research projects were underway, one from the Internationa? Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialized cancer research agency of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and a separate WHO study.

The first study assesses whether electromagnetic fields from cell phones are a cause of cancer in humans, after IARC found in June 2001 that this was a "possibility". The other study looks into other health effects of radiation.

Results of the studies were expected this year, but are now expected late 2005 at the earliest for IARC, and a year later for the WHO research project.

Sony Ericsson said it sponsors research, but mainly those projects recommended by the WHO.

The so-called Reflex study conducted by 12 research groups in seven European countries was two-thirds funded by the European Union.

About two-thirds of the exploration activity off Norway will be in the North Sea, and the rest in the Norwegian Sea further north and the Barents Sea in the Arctic, the directorate said.

From 25 to 30 new exploration wells are likely to be drilled from floating platforms and between five and 10 from fixed installations, the directorate said.

The projection is based on information from oil and gas operators, the directorate said.

Norway is the world’s third biggest crude exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia, pumping about three million barrels per day. It is also Western Eur?pe’s biggest natural gas producer.

A four-month rig workers’ strike that ended in late October postponed some exploration drilling in 2004.

Four of the wells planned for 2005 should have been drilled in autumn this year, the directorate said.

The directorate’s exploration director Bente Nyland said in the statement that high oil prices also contributed to the planned increase in activity.

Companies have not secured drilling rigs for all of the wells planned for 2005, Nyland said.

The biggest Norwegian operator, Statoil, has said that it will double its exploration off Norway in 2005, taking part in 18- 20 wells instead of the eight in 2004.

Statoil said earlier this month that it would participate in drilling 9-11 wells in the North Sea, 7-9 in the Norwegian Sea and three in the Barents Sea.

Oil and gas companies have pinned their hopes for big new discoveries on exploration further north as the North Sea has begun to mature as an oil province.

Statistics Norway said earlier this month that total investment in the Norwegian oil and gas sector is expected to rise to a record high 89.5 billion Norwegian crowns ($14.64 billion) in 2005 from 71.9 billion in 2004.

The statistics agency estimated that investment in exploration off Norway would rise next year to 9.0 billion crowns from 4.0 billion this year.

"This decision increases our freedom," Illarionov said at a press conference Tuesday that was devoted to the economic and political performance of the country in the outgoing year.

At the same time, he noted that the Russians owed this decision to their Ukrainian peers who showed consistent approach to defending their position.

The presidential adviser also classified all the events in the country as "nominations". For example, the appointment of Kakha Bendukidze to the post of Georgian economic minister was "the decision of the year", according to Illarionov.

"The anti-decision of the year", he continued, was Russia’s ratification of the Kyoto protocol. "This was an anti-decision for the whole world as well as Russia," said Illarionov.

According to him, the idea of the year is that "this year, it became clear that doubling GDP will not befall Russia in the next 8-10 years." "The doubling of GDP is only possible, given a comprehensive and balanced economic policy," said the adviser. Russia, he added, changed the model of economic and public development this year, which is "the main result of the year," said Illarionov.

"We have made a transition from the inertia model of development that was simultaneously liberal, to the interventionist model with substantial government interference," the presidential adviser stated.

We base our work on the following values that colour all the work of SCI:

Volunteering – in the sense of acting out of self-initiative, without seeking material reward and for the benefit of civil society, as a method and a statement for social change, whilst never competing with paid labour nor seeking to contribute to strike-breaking

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We believe that all the people are capable of living together with mutual respect and without recourse to any form of violence to solve conflicts. We organise international volunteer projects all over the world because we know that peace can only be built if people with different backgrounds and cultures learn to co-operate and work together.

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Russia handed official ratification papers to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Nairobi on Thursday.

Russia’s accession gives Kyoto support from countries that emit at least 55% of the world’s greenhouse gases.

The protocol commits 55 industrialised nations to making significant cuts in the emission of gases such as carbon dioxide by the year 2012.

Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Andrei Denisov, handed Russia’s accession papers to Mr Annan in Nairobi, where the Security Council is holding a special session.

Mr Annan described Russia’s accession to the Kyoto Protocol as a "historic step forward in the world’s efforts to combat a truly global threat".

The formal ratification of the protocol ended years of uncertainty over the future of the agreement, Mr Annan added.

<b>International disagreement</b>

The US, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, withdrew from the protocol in 2001, saying it would gravely damage the US economy.

The Bush administration also criticised the protocol for not forcing developing nations including India and China to cut emissions immediately.

Australia, which has a large coal industry, has also refused to ratify Kyoto.

The protocol was first agreed in 1997, but required the agreement of countries responsible for at least 55% of global emissions measured in 1990.

After the US pulled out, the protocol could not be ratified without Russia, responsible for 17% of emissions.

Industrialised countries will have until 2012 to cut their collective emissions of six key greenhouse gases to 5.2% below the 1990 level.

But some experts have claimed that a drastic cut of around 60% is needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming.