In early December, 1997, representatives from over 170 countries met in Kyoto, Japan to negotiate a legally binding treaty to reduce human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. The meeting was held under the auspicies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and moved the argument about the science of global climate change to world policy which continues to this day. There are several excellent web sites that provide background on the negotiations including the full-text of the Kyoto conference negotiations and the resulting protocol as well as reports of ongoing climate policy negotiations.