Durban - Durban's International Convention Centre is awash with colourful outfits and accents from around the globe as delegates start streaming into the plenary venue for the opening of the COP17.
The drums are beating and the spirit of South Africa is reverberating throughout the venue, musicians are fine tuning their instruments and media have started to report on the all-important climate change conference.
ICC staff has been busy since the early hours of the morning with preparations and has worked tirelessly to help delegates find their way to venues that have all been named after flowers and plants.
After months and months of meetings, logistical arrangements and preparation, the COP17 will open with two main tasks to be accomplished.
According to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, task one relates to building the institutions that will help support the developing country response to climate change.
The second pressing task is for governments to decide how to move forward together to achieve their agreed goal to limit the average global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, and how to review progress towards that goal between 2013 and 2015.
While the hard work starts for governments and world leaders, NGOs and the business sector are also commencing with their efforts at the conference.
There will be plenty of press conferences conducted by NGOs to discuss their agenda and well as exhibitions of their work, products or services.
The opening session will start with the election of the President of the Conference of Parties and adoption of procedure and agenda.
