UN Climate Change Conference Opens in Doha

The latest UN climate change conference opens Monday in Doha, Qatar.

The latest UN climate change conference opened Monday in Doha, Qatar, where delegates from over 190 countries gathered for discussions on major issues relating to global anti-warming efforts, including details of the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period.

Participants at the conference, known as the 18th Conference of Parties (COP 18) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), expect it to press ahead with what has been achieved in the past and accomplish substantive results.

Days before the meeting's opening, UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres said in Bonn, Germany, that the Doha conference must deliver its objectives to speed up global action towards a low-emission future where everyone has the chance of a sustainable life.

On the first day of the meeting, Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, chairman of Qatar's Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, is set to be elected as the president of the conference.

Among the priorities of the climate talks, to ensure the seamless continuation of the Kyoto Protocol (on Jan. 1, 2013) and to plan the work under the Durban Platform (a new negotiating mechanism) are high on the agenda.