The Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Seventeenth Sessions of the COP's Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) open today at the Vigyan Bhawan Conference Centre in New Delhi, India. Around 3,000 participants are expected to attend. This is the first COP since November 2001, when delegates completed three years of negotiations on the operational details of the Kyoto Protocol and agreed the Marrakesh Accords.

Among other things, Parties will take up: national communications from Annex I and non-Annex I Parties, and their guidelines, and the new mandate and terms of reference of the Consultative Group of Experts on non-Annex I National Communications (CGE); the financial mechanism; capacity-building; implementation of UNFCCC Article 4.8 and 4.9 (adverse effects); the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); "good practices" in policies and measures (P&Ms); research and systematic observation (RSO); cooperation with relevant international organizations; UNFCCC Article 6 (education, training and public awareness); development and transfer of technology; and issues relating to hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.

Parties will also address methodological issues, including: guidelines under Protocol Articles 5 (methodological issues), 7 (communication of information) and 8 (review of information); guidelines on reporting and review of Annex I greenhouse gas inventories; activities implemented jointly (AIJ); land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF); and scientific and methodological assessment of contributions to climate change.

Other issues to be discussed include: cleaner or less greenhouse gas-emitting energy; the implementation of Protocol Article 2.3 (adverse effects of P&Ms); special circumstances of Croatia under UNFCCC Article 4.6 (flexibility for countries with economies in transition); the Croatian proposal on forest management activities under Protocol Article 3.4 (additional activities); a Canadian proposal on modalities for the accounting of assigned amounts under Protocol Article 7.4 (registries) in relation to cleaner energy exports; the request from a group of countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Albania and the Republic of Moldova (CACAM) for the clarification of the term "developing countries" in the context of UNFCCC decisions; review of the adequacy of commitments under the UNFCCC; and a series of administrative and organizational matters.