KATOWICE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2018) The United Nations Climate Change Conference � COP24 � has started in the Polish city of Katowice on Sunday, with around 30,000 participants gathering for the major environmental event, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
The main goal of the conference participants is to discuss the ways to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement. The event, which is attended by world leaders, heads of government, ministers and celebrities, is set to last until December 14.
During the first day, the Conference of the Parties (COP), which acts as the principal decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will be held along with the meetings of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) and to the Paris Agreement (CMA).
The Russian side to the conference will be represented by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin. The Russian delegation is expected to be led by Special Presidential Representative on Climate Issues Ruslan Edelgeriyev. President Vladimir Putin is not planning to attend the conference, according to the Kremlin.
This is the third time that Poland hosts the UN Climate Change Conference � the first two forums were held in the city of Poznan in 2008 and in Warsaw in 2013.
The Climate Change Conference is held annually in the framework of the UNFCCC. The 197 countries who have ratified the UN convention on climate change are called the Parties to the Convention. As part of the annual conference, the countries' representatives participate in the Conference of the Parties.
The Paris Agreement was adopted during COP 21 in the French capital and is aimed at fighting climate change by trying to keep the increase in global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The accord has been since ratified by 184 parties to the UNFCCC.
