PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
UN: UN chief lauds Paris Agreement on Climate Change entry into force
New York, US (PANA) - As the Paris Agreement on Cimate Change enters into force, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for commitment and determination to implement the agreement as well as to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
"We remain in a race against time. But with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world has the plans we need to make the shift to a low-emission, climate-resilient path," Ban told UN reporters on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.
"Now is the time to strengthen global resolve, do what science demands and seize the opportunity to build a safer, more sustainable world for all," Ban stated.
He recalled that in early October, the Paris Agreement cleared the final threshold of 55 countries representing 55 per cent of global emissions required for the accord to enter into effect.
"Its entry into force was extremely swift, particularly for an agreement that required a large number of ratification and two specific thresholds," he noted.
He also said that the present generation is the first to really feel the effects of climate change and the last that can prevent its worst consequences.
Ban also noted that over the past decade, a “great global coalition” for climate action, including government officials, scientists, faith leaders, business executives and civil society activists around the world was forged and it recognized that the future of people and planet was at stake.
"They made today possible. Today shows us what is possible when we join forces for our common future," the UN chief added.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the next meeting of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known by the acronym "COP 22", kicks off in Marrakech, Morocco.
Adopted by 196 parties to the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Agreement calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.
Additionally, the Agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
It called for scaled up financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity-building framework to support action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries in line with their own national objectives.
The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework and a stocktaking mechanism to ramp up ambition over time.
For a country that joins the Agreement after it enters into force, the Agreement will become binding 30 days after it deposits its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the UN Secretary-General.
So far, 191 countries have signed the Paris Agreement.
-0- PANA AA/AR 4Nov2016
"We remain in a race against time. But with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world has the plans we need to make the shift to a low-emission, climate-resilient path," Ban told UN reporters on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.
"Now is the time to strengthen global resolve, do what science demands and seize the opportunity to build a safer, more sustainable world for all," Ban stated.
He recalled that in early October, the Paris Agreement cleared the final threshold of 55 countries representing 55 per cent of global emissions required for the accord to enter into effect.
"Its entry into force was extremely swift, particularly for an agreement that required a large number of ratification and two specific thresholds," he noted.
He also said that the present generation is the first to really feel the effects of climate change and the last that can prevent its worst consequences.
Ban also noted that over the past decade, a “great global coalition” for climate action, including government officials, scientists, faith leaders, business executives and civil society activists around the world was forged and it recognized that the future of people and planet was at stake.
"They made today possible. Today shows us what is possible when we join forces for our common future," the UN chief added.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the next meeting of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known by the acronym "COP 22", kicks off in Marrakech, Morocco.
Adopted by 196 parties to the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Agreement calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.
Additionally, the Agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
It called for scaled up financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity-building framework to support action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries in line with their own national objectives.
The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework and a stocktaking mechanism to ramp up ambition over time.
For a country that joins the Agreement after it enters into force, the Agreement will become binding 30 days after it deposits its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the UN Secretary-General.
So far, 191 countries have signed the Paris Agreement.
-0- PANA AA/AR 4Nov2016
