The conference, which will run until December 18, will have participants from 192 countries representing governments, the business community, and civil society. These include Environment Minister Edwin Poots and local MEP Bairbre De Brun.
Locally, climate change may impact on agriculture in Northern Ireland.
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Michelle Gildernew, MP MLA, has set out her perspective on the threats that it may pose, the opportunities that it may create and the steps that local farmers will have to take in order to mitigate its impact.
"Climate change is of global concern and will be an important influence on the future of the local agri-food sector," the minister told Farming Life.
"In the Programme for Government the Executive set an overall target of a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the north by 2025 on 1990 levels."
She continued: "I believe this is achievable and agriculture can play its full part alongside other sectors in addressing the challenge while still producing and selling high quality food. We must remember that agriculture contributes 21% of the total emissions in the north, which is a greater percentage share than in England, Scotland and Wales though slightly less than in the south.
"Climate change may affect the traditional pattern of agriculture with the need to adapt to much greater fluctuations in temperature and rainfall. There may be new animal diseases to deal with. We need to be able to respond to the pressures from the market place to demonstrate the carbon footprint of locally produced food.
"The agriculture industry must retain the ability to compete internationally. It serves no useful purpose to impose costs that result in jobs and production moving to other parts of the world, which might actually have higher emissions than our own. Local farmers can be assured that I intend to use a common sense approach to all of this.
"I have commissioned my Departmental Scientific Advisor to examine the scientific knowledge that currently exists and its implications for the local agri-food industry. This will inform the development of my strategic approach and he will make full use of the valuable research work that AFBI has conducted to date.
"The Executive has not split up the overall Programme for Government target between sectors. But in other regions the agriculture sector is being asked to achieve around 10% reduction of current levels by 2022. We are on a downward trend here due to falling livestock numbers but this on its own would not meet targets.
"Existing measures taken such as the Nitrates Action Programme and the
METS option within the Farm Modernisation Scheme encourage farmers to adopt practices which will contribute to reducing emissions.
"Mitigation strategies such as more environmentally farming practices, protection and expansion of forestry, nutrient efficiency and renewable energy via, for example, anaerobic digestion all need to be examined to see if they can collectively contribute to reductions.
"We are working up the strategy and policies needed and there has been some engagement with stakeholders to date. We plan to engage thoroughly with stakeholders early in the New Year when we have the best scientific base for actions established. Both AFBI and CAFRE have an important role to play. We need to ensure that we have the necessary evidence to underpin any new policy developments and that we understand fully all the potential consequences of such policies."
The Minister concluded: "There are potential opportunities for the industry here, providing we can demonstrate that we are producing high quality food while reducing emissions. Our livestock sector compares favourably currently with our competitors elsewhere and if we can maintain that position there should be market opportunities. There are also opportunities in the Renewable Energy sector both to make energy savings at business level and to produce energy for sale. I have recently received the report from the industry led Renewable Energy Stakeholder Group and I will be making announcements on the way forward with renewable energy in the agri-food and forestry sector early in the New Year."