UN climate change conference hails Australia Kyoto signing

More than 10,000 scientists, bureaucrats and politicians from 186 countries have gathered Monday on the Indonesian island of Bali for the beginning of what is perhaps the world's largest-ever conference on climate change.

Monday's session opened with delegates giving a standing ovation for Australia as the country's delegate, Howard Bamsey, announced Canberra was ratifying the Kyoto accord.

The move ends more than a decade of resistance to the environmental pact and leaves the United States as the sole developed nation that has not recognized the accord. (CBC)