Kazakhstan's upper house of parliament Thursday ratified the country's membership in the Kyoto protocol, a UN-led pact to fight global warming.

The ratification will take effect after President Nursultan Nazarbayev signs it into law.

According to the Kyoto protocol, adopted in 1997 and signed by Kazakhstan in 1999, industrialized nations would have bigger emission quotas if they invest in the green efforts of less developed nations.

Experts estimated that Kazakhstan would get foreign investment of US$150 million to US$300 millionin two years as a less developed member of the protocol, and see a total of 500 million to 600 million dollars investment by 2012 when the Kyoto framework expires.

More than 170 countries have ratified the protocol, and Kazakhstan was the last signatory that had not approved it.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2009)