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Durban Climate Change Conference COP17
Ministers gather in a huddle where agreement was reached to extend the Kyoto Protocol during a plenary session at COP17 in Durban on Dec. 11, 2011. REUTERS

The U.N. climate change conference, formally known at the 17<sup>th Conference of the Parties (COP17), took place in Durban, South Africa from Nov. 28 through Sunday.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries gathered to discuss climate change matters and to come to a conclusion on a legally binding global agreement to reduce carbon emissions.

After much speculation from environmentalists, who expected little progress to come out of the Durban summit, officials managed to come to an agreement in the early hours of Sunday morning - a day and a half later than talks were scheduled to finish.

Following a marathon series of talks from Friday night onwards, officials huddled for hours before coming to an agreement to push for a new climate treaty.

The treaty will be negotiated by 2015 and be enforced from 2020.

The deal also makes progress towards addressing the "emissions gap" between the voluntary emissions cuts countries have already promised and the reductions environment experts say are required to tackle climate change seriously.

For an overview of the two-week climate change conference in Durban, click 'start' to begin the photo slideshow.

Climate Change South Africa