Date | 1 December 2008 12 December 2008 |
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Location | PIF Congress Centre, Poznań International Fair, Poznań, Poland |
Also known as | COP14 |
Participants | UNFCCC member countries |
The 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place at PIF Congress Centre, Poznań International Fair (PIF), in Poznań, Poland, between December 1 and December 12, 2008. Representatives from over 180 countries attended along with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations.
The conference encompassed meetings of several bodies, including the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 14) and the 4th Meeting of the Parties to the (MOP 4 or CMP 4). Subsidiaries of these bodies also met, including the fourth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 4), a resumed session of the Ad HocWorking Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 6), and the twenty-ninth sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 29), and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 29).
Since the late 1800s, the surface of the earth has experienced an increase of 0.6 °C in global temperatures. The earth historically has experienced periods of large increases in global temperatures. For example, around 2 million B.C the surface temperature of the earth is estimated to have been 5 °C warmer than today. While these temperatures increased as a result of the natural warming and cooling of the earth, current increases in global temperatures are attributed to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases have increased since the late 19th century due to the industrialization of nations worldwide. Examples of greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydro-fluorocarbons. While each of these have a significant impact on the effects of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is considered to be the most important as approximately three-quarters of the human-generated global warming effect may attributed to increased carbon dioxide output .