Copenhagen climate change conference in pictures: Day one

Connie Hedegaard, Denmark's minister for the COP15 Climate Summit and future EU climate commissioner, speaks at the closing of the Children's Climate Forum on December 4. 2009 at Copenhagen's town hall. 166 children from 44 countries have for a week been gathered in Copenhagen in order to make children's voices heard in the lead up to the COP15 Climate Summit on December 7-18. Connie Hedegaard will present the declaration to the assembled world leaders at the summit. Photograph: Keld Navntoft/guardian.co.uk

A woman with a bicycle walks next to a globe which is a part of of an installation in downtown Copenhagen Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/guardian.co.uk

A bridge by Norwegian artist Vebjoern Sand made of ice after Leonardo da Vinci s original design and situated on Copenhagen s Parliament Square December 5, 2009 symbolizes the speed with which ice at the poles melts. Photograph: Kreutzmann Nanna/guardian.co.uk

A man puts advertising on the the Climate Express at Brussels Midi railway station, Belgium, December 5, 2009. The Climate Express, a special train carrying U.N. officials, delegates and journalists, left from Brussels for Copenhagen. Photograph: Peter Dejong/guardian.co.uk

A man walks past a sign at the entrance to the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen December 4, 2009. Photograph: Bob Strong/guardian.co.uk

A staff member leaves the conference room of the Bella Centre on the eve of the opening of the United Nations Climate Conference 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 6 2009. Photograph: Keld Navntoft/guardian.co.uk

The U.N.'s top climate official Yvo de Boer, second left, is flanked by Malta's Michael Zammit Cutajar, left, and John Ash, second right, chairmen of the two key negotiation committees as UN spokesman Eric Hall, right takes a question at a press conference December 6, 2009. Photograph: Larsen Claus Bj Rn/guardian.co.uk

A woman touches an ice sculpture of a polar bear in downtown Copenhagen December 6, 2009. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/guardian.co.uk

People walk by the gigantic earth globe on the town square in Copenhagen on December 6, 2009, on the eve of the opening of the United Nations Climate Conference 2009. Photograph: Mikkel Moeller Joergensen/guardian.co.uk

The sculpture 'The messenger' is illuminated with red light next to the Bella Center on December 6, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The art work is part of the project SevenMeters, using red blinking LED-light, to symbolize that the world is moving towards a climate catastrophe. 24 kilometers of red blinking LED-lights will appear at 7 meters height during the climate summit. Photograph: Miguel Villagran/guardian.co.uk

Environmental activists head for the Bella Center, the venue of the COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagenas conference kick off Photograph: Liselotte Sabroe/guardian.co.uk

A theatre group performs outside the congress centre, before the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen December 7, 2009. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/guardian.co.uk

Environmental activists from World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) demonstrate outside the Bella Center, the venue of the COP15 Climate Summit Photograph: Liselotte Sabroe/guardian.co.uk

Journalists get ready on December 7, 2009 at the Bella Center in Copenhagen on the first day of the COP15 Climate Summit. Photograph: Liselotte Sabroe/guardian.co.uk

People queue to enter the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, also known as COP15, at the Bella center in Copenhagen December 7, 2009. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/guardian.co.uk

General view shows the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 on December 7, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photograph: Miguel Villagran/guardian.co.uk

Nobel Peace prize winner Rajendra K. Pachauri, U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Mayor of Copenhagen Ritt Bjerregaard (L-R) attend the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, also known as COP15, at the Bella center in Copenhagen December 7, 2009. Photograph: Bob Strong/guardian.co.uk

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen speaks during the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, also known as COP15, at the Bella center in Copenhagen December 7, 2009. Photograph: Bob Strong/guardian.co.uk

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai of Kenya (C) sits among representatives as they listen to Danish Prime Minister Lokke Rasmussen's opening speech of the UN climate conference at the Bella center in Copenhagen on December 7, 2009. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/guardian.co.uk

Members of Canada's (L) and Cameroon's delegations attend the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, also known as COP15, at the Bella center in Copenhagen December 7, 2009. Photograph: Bob Strong/guardian.co.uk

Delegates from Bhutan talk as they arrive for the opening plenary at Bella Center, the venue of the COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 7 2009. Photograph: Keld Navntoft/guardian.co.uk

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer (R) and Danish Minister of UN Climate Change Conference Connie Hedegaard (2nd R) pose for media with members of a NGO during the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, also known as COP15, in Copenhagen December 7, 2009. Photograph: Bob Strong/guardian.co.uk

Member of an environmentalist group pretend to be dead during a protest demanding a real climate deal during the first day of United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Belle centre on December 7, 2009 in Copenhagen. Photograph: Miguel Villagran/guardian.co.uk

Commuters walk beneath a logo of "Hopenhagen" as they leave Kongens Nytorv metro station in Copenhagen on December 7, 2009. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/guardian.co.uk