Over 3,000 government officials and other participants attended the opening session today of the Fifth Session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The meeting continues until 5 November.

The Session was opened by the outgoing President of the COP, Maria Julia Alsogaray, Argentina’s Minister for Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. Minister Alsogaray chaired last year’s Session, which resulted in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for advancing the implementation of the Convention and finalizing the operational details of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.