UN Climate Change Talks to Begin in Peru Monday

MOSCOW, December 1 (Sputnik) - On Monday, United Nations climate negotiators will gather in Lima, Peru, for a 12-day conference to advance a new global climate change agreement.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) official website, the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC and the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol will be held from 1 to 12 December in the capital city.

Delegates arriving at Lima ariport for #COP20 are greeted with @Momentum_UNFCCC banner http://t.co/LsOornZXhA pic.twitter.com/J3CwFyOskG

— UNFCCC (@UN_ClimateTalks) 30 ноября 2014

The UNFCCC, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, entered into force in 1994. The convention has been ratified by 195 countries which now meet once a year to evaluate the effectiveness of the convention.

This year's talks are expected to be intense, as the Parties to the Convention have committed to finalize a new global climate pact at the Paris climate conference in 2015. The new agreement will be implemented beginning in 2020.

One of the main topics to be discussed in Lima is the Green Climate Fund, a mechanism to transfer money from developed countries to emerging economies to help the latter counter negative economic consequences of climate change. The fund is expected to accumulate at least $10 billion by the end of 2014. On November 20, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that thirty countries had already pledged $9.4 billion in donations.

Late in November, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim stated that over the next 20 years global warming will more profoundly affect the world's poorest nations as abnormally high temperatures, intense rainfall and severe drought hinder efforts to reduce poverty, putting millions of lives in danger.

With global average temperatures breaking all-time highs in 2014, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate issues are high on the international agenda. In September, prior to major climate talks at the UN Climate Summit in New York, millions of people protesting in more than 2,000 cities demanded urgent action on climate change.