Doha - Angola participates with a multi-sectoral delegation in eighteenth UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-18) began today Monday, in Doha (Qatar), to assess the degree of implementation of policies aimed at mitigating global warming, one of the greatest challenges facing humanity amid the serious consequences of the phenomenon, especially in developing countries.

The minister of Environment, Fátima Jardim, is expected next Monday (03 December) in Doha to head the Angolan delegation at the event that will bring together about 17,000 participants from 194 nations.

It is also expected, in the capital of Qatar, the Permanent Representative of Angola to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Ambassador Ambrosio Lukoki.

For now, the group of environmentalists and Angolan diplomats at the meeting is coordinated by the Angolan ambassador in Qatar, Flávio Fonseca, with residence in Abu Dhabi (UAE).

Delegates will, among other things, decide on the extension of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires this year, the main instrument for adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change, according to environmentalists.

Among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, only the European Union and a number of few countries are willing to accept the second commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

The United States rejected the Kyoto Protocol due to the rapid economic growth of China and India. But there is hope that the American delegates will join the group that is working to develop the new global treaty that will require the collaboration of all industrialized
nations.

The new treaty may be adopted in 2015, and can enter into force after five years. Another controversial issue is the financing of mitigation and adaptation to climate change that has divided the most industrialized and developing countries, creating embarrassment to the
United Nations conferences on the subject, launched in 1992.