UN chief Ban Ki-moon, King Mohammed of conference host Morocco, and France's President Francois Hollande will open a "high-level" segment of the annual UN forum -- the first since last year's adoption of the Paris Agreement to stave off calamitous global warming.
This will be followed by speeches from nearly 60 heads of state and government from mainly African countries, but also some from Europe and several island states.
"We expect of the heads of state to reiterate their commitment (to the deal)... and send a strong message to Trump and the rest of the world," Celia Gautier of the Climate Action Network, a grouping of NGOs, told AFP on Monday.
The election of Trump, who has called climate change a "hoax" and has threatened to "cancel" the Paris pact, has been uppermost on the minds of many delegates and negotiators gathered since last Monday to thrash out a roadmap for putting the agreement into action.
The hard-fought deal set an objective of limiting average global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels by cutting planet-heating greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil, and gas.
Many fear that withdrawal by the United States, a champion of the deal under Barack Obama, would shatter the political goodwill built up over years of negotiations, and put the very planet-saving goals of the deal at risk.
While waiting for news from Washington, many now look to the rest of the world to strongly restate their commitment to the pact - with or without the US.
All eyes will be on Marrakech, where 39 kings and presidents and 18 prime ministers are scheduled to address the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22 for short) of the UN's climate convention, which gathers 196 nations and the EU bloc.
Call to action
To date, 109 of the 197 parties have officially ratified the Paris Agreement, which entered into force on November 4 after crossing the threshold of 55 ratifications by countries representing 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
They included the United States, which represents about 14 percent of global emissions, and China which accounts for 25 percent.
Beijing's climate envoy Xie Zhenhua stressed Monday that tackling climate was a "common and shared responsibility".
"International cooperation is a must for us to address climate change," he said in Marrakech.
In Marrakech, developing nations have been pushing for stronger finance commitments from the developed world, particularly for infrastructure to help them better cope with climate change-induced harms.
Scientists say warming over 2 C will yield dangerous sea level rise, harsher storms and droughts, disease spread and conflict over ever-scarcer resources.
"Now, more than ever, governments meeting in Marrakech must commit to action to protect millions of vulnerable people from climate change," said Oxfam, which fights for poor people's interests at the climate talks.
A participant from Brazil at the World Climate Change Conference 2016 (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco, 14 November 2016. (AAP) Source: AAP
Among the speakers on Tuesday's agenda are Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.
Approached for comment, the UNFCCC said by email on Monday Bashir was invited by Morocco, which is not a party to the court's founding Rome Statute.
"If even al-Bashir can contribute to the global climate effort, then President-elect Donald Trump will have no excuse," commented climate activist Mohamed Adow of ChristianAid.
Climate momentum will continue: US envoy on Trump vote
The global drive to stave off disastrous global warming will continue regardless of who heads the US administration, Washington's top climate envoy said Monday on the election of climate change denier Donald Trump.
"Heads of state can and will change, but I am confident that we can and we will sustain a durable international effort to counter climate change," US special envoy for climate change Jonathan Pershing told journalists on the sidelines of a UN climate conference in Marrakech.
Pershing said the "shape and thrust" of the new administration should become clearer in the coming weeks, adding that, "I cannot speak for the President-elect's team or to their outlook on international climate policy."
"What I do know, however, is that... parties are deeply invested in seeing this work bear real fruit," he said.
"It was a global effort that made the agreement possible and the passion and the dedication that drove it," was in evidence still, Pershing added.
