Durban - There is growing momentum amongst rich and developing nations to take action against global warming and climate change, UN climate head Christiana Figueres said on Sunday.
Figueres was speaking to reporters at the Durban International Convention Centre ahead of the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) which starts on Monday.
"You see a growing momentum everywhere you go and this ranges from legislations that have been passed by developed countries to the interest shown by all the parties...businesses and governments are becoming more and more involved in raising awareness on the challenge of climate change," said Figueres.
She said it was compelling to see governments and civil society taking action to address the impacts of climate change that have started to affect development in most parts of the world.
"Durban should mark the next milestone in the climate talks. We expect that many of the issues that leaders agreed on in Mexico will find a way of being implemented here and these include the Green Climate Fund and other matters," she said.
The COP17 talks are expected to attract more than 15 000 participants and a total of 1 389 journalists have been approved to cover the two-week event.
Figueres said an adaptation framework that was agreed to in Mexico last year was well on track. She was confident that government would finalise all the outstanding issues around finance, technology and mitigation.
Governments were approaching the talks with a very serious attitude to negotiate and finding solution to the issue of funding. "Finance is important and the Green Climate Fund is an important tool for developing nations to support their adaptation and mitigation," Figueres said.
Asked if Durban could afford to defer a decision on the Kyoto Protocol to next year, she said governments would gather in Durban from Monday knowing that the fate of the treaty was in their hands.
She acknowledged that the issue of the Kyoto Protocol was likely to dominate the talks as 2012 marks the end of the first commitment period for the treat that was signed in 1997.
The Kyoto Protocol currently places legal obligations on nations - with the exception of USA, China, India and Brazil who are not signatories to the treaty - to reduce greenhouse emissions by 5.2 percent.
"Governments have come to Durban understanding the importance of the Kyoto Protocol, I therefore strongly believe that there will be an effort to move into a 2nd commitment period," Figueres said.
