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Developing countries take lead at climate change agreement signing
April 22, 2016
Developing countries take lead at climate change agreement signing
By Lyndal Rowlands
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 22 2016 (IPS) - An unprecedented 175 countries signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement here Friday, with 15 developing countries taking the lead by also ratifying the treaty.
The Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Somalia, Palestine, Barbados, Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Tuvalu, the Maldives, Saint Lucia and Mauritius all deposited their instruments of ratification at the signing ceremony, meaning that their governments have already agreed to be legally bound by the terms of the treaty.
Speaking at the opening of the signing ceremony UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon welcomed the record-breaking number of signatures for an international treaty on a single day but reminded the governments present that “records are also being broken outside.”
“Record global temperatures. Record ice loss. Record carbon levels in the atmosphere,” said Ban.
Ban urged all countries to have their governments ratify the agreement at the national level as soon as possible.
“The window for keeping global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius, let alone 1.5 degrees, is rapidly closing,” he said.
In order for the Paris agreement to enter into force it must first be ratified by 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions.
Read more at Inter Press Service.
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