Qatar has won the bid to host next year's UN Climate Change Conference, COP18, the UN's top climate official announced Tuesday.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres (center) announces Qatar will be the host of next year's 18th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [Luo Qi/China.org.cn]

The Arab state beat out South Korea's Busan City, once considered the favorite, to win the rights to host the 18th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will run from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2012.

The decision surprised South Koreans, who had expected a victory. "We're disappointed," said Kim Kwi-gon, who led the planning committee for the 2011 Urban Environmental Accords Gwangju Summit. "We thought it would be us. A lot of our journalists came to Durban to celebrate our bid's success."

But Qatar, which is set to host the World Cup in 2022, proved too attractive to pass over.

"Qatar has always been quite competitive," said Yang Fuqiang, senior climate adviser to the US-based Natural Resource Defense Council. "The cost of holding climate talks like the Durban Conference is huge, at least tens of millions of US dollars, including financial support for the participation of some developing countries. Qatar enjoys economic advantages."

The small oil-rich nation also has other positives, Yang said, including its easily accessible location as well as the linguistic convenience of its comparatively diverse population.

"Qatar's decision to actively bid for the right to host COP18 shows its concern for the influence of climate change on energy," Yang said.

South Korea's efforts were not totally in vain. The Republic of Korea will host a ministerial meeting to prepare for COP18. Such ministerial meetings are a tradition in the UNFCCC negotiations and are instrumental in clarifying central issues in the weeks before a meeting of parties.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres also sang high praise for South Korea's environmental efforts, noting it has championed the concept of the "green economy," which links green growth to sustainable development and poverty eradication.

The UNFCCC's annual Conferences of the Parties are rotated between the five UN regional groups, with the African Group this year hosting COP17 in Durban, South Africa.