Russia formally ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming on Thursday, clearing the way for the environment pact to come into force in February 2005. The move means that from Feb. 16, industrialised nations that are signatories to the pact will be legally bound to meet quantitative targets for reducing or limiting emissions of so-called greenhouse gases. Scientists say carbon dioxide released from burning oil, coal and gas in power plants and cars is the main source of global warming. U.N. climate experts have already detected many early signals of global warming, including the shrinking of mountain glaciers and Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice, reduced ice cover on lakes and rivers, longer summer growing seasons and the spread of many insects and plants towards the poles. The U.N. accord, backed by more than 120 countries, will enter into force 90 days after Thursday's filing of the Russian ratification documents with the United Nations -- meaning on Feb. 16, according to the accord's administrators. Russia's documents were handed to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan by Moscow's U.N. ambassador, Andrei Denisov. Both are in Nairobi, the home of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), for an extraordinary U.N. Security Council meeting on Sudan. --More 2047 Local Time 1747 GMT
