More than 30 000 people from 193 countries are to arrive in Durban for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) meeting, which the city will be hosting from 28 November to 9 December. The world is currently buzzing with workshops, meetings, and symposia in preparation for the event, which is expected to be as big as COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009. The participants will include governments, NGOs, business, academia and media.

The COP17 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held at the ICC Durban and Durban Exhibition Centre. The UNFCCC is an international treaty arising from the UN’s conference on Environment and Development. The treaty aims to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions to minimise their impact on the earth’s climate. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the governing body of the Convention, and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its annual meetings since 1995.  In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was introduced with binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

USEFUL WEBSITES

• Unfccc.int (official UNFCCC homepage)

• www.cop17-cmp7durban.com (COP17 information site)

• youthclimate.org/coy7/ (Conference of Youth)

• www.climatenetwork.org (NGO Network on Climate Change)

• www.greenpeace.org/africa/en (Greenpeace Africa)

• www.environment.gov.za (SA Department of Environmental Affairs)

• www.c17.org.za (Civil Society events in Durban at COP17)

• Climate-connections.org (Global Justice Ecology Project)

• 350.org (A global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis)

• www.groundwork.org.za (Environmental Justice Action)

• www.wehavefaithactnow.org (Interfaith Campaign for climate justice)

• www.greenprophet.com (Green news from the Middle East region)