Nairobi — More than 6,000 delegates will attend a two-week conference on climate change starting on Monday. Among them will be 130 Environment ministers.

The talks liaison officer, Ms Susan Njuguna, said the conference will be held at UN headquarters in Gigiri. It will be the first of its kind to be held in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dubbed the 12th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the bi-annual event was last held in Montreal, Canada, in December 2005.

Ms Njuguna said it was an honour for Kenya to host the event as climate change was an international issue.

It will be the second meeting of parties to the Kyoto Protocol. More than 180 nations including Kenya are parties to the convention and protocol.

International efforts

Under the protocol, industrialised nations are committed to individually and collectively limit their emissions. Last year, specific targets were adopted for greenhouse gases.

Developing countries are to be assisted to achieve sustainable development.

The UNFCCC is the supreme and governing body responsible for keeping international efforts to address climate change. Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai is among those to address the conference.

Kenya is expected to highlight concerns and direct debate on the impact of climate change.

There will also be a Carbon Trade Exhibition at the Village Market for Kenya to showcase "Africa's potential in the development and implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Projects," Ms Njuguna said.

Environment minister Kivutha Kibwana is expected to be appointed co-chair of the conference for two years at the November 6-17 talks.