Ministers and diplomats from 160 governments began meeting in The Hague on Monday to confront the issue of concerted international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A global strategy on climate change was first agreed under the 1992 United Nations Climate Change Convention and its 1997 Kyoto Protocol. This international legal regime promotes a framework of financial and technical incentives to help all countries to adopt more climate-friendly policies and technologies. It also sets targets and timetables for emissions reductions by developed countries.

To date most governments have still not ratified the 1997 protocol, which means that emissions targets for developed countries - which add up to a planned five per cent reduction compared to 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012 - are not yet in effect. Most are waiting for agreement on how the protocol can be delivered in practice.

Executive secretary of the UN's climate change secretariat, Michael Zammit Cutajar, said: "The Hague conference is a make or break opportunity for the climate change treaties. Unless governments of developed countries take the hard decisions that lead to real and meaningful cuts in emissions and to greater support to developing countries, global action on climate change will lose momentum."