NEW DELHI: The Paris Agreement on climate change moved closer to enter into force this year as 31 more countries on Wednesday joined it at a special event hosted by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. The number of the countries, which joined the Paris Agreement, has now reached 60 - five more than the threshold of 55 nations required for bringing the Agreement into force. The Paris Agreement will enter into force 30 days after 55 countries, representing 55% of global emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance or accession with the UN Secretary-General. Since the 60 countries that joined the Agreement so far account for only nearly 47.62% of the global emission, the global deal needs to cover remaining 7.5% before it enters into force. But, the magic figure of 55% does not appear to be far as 14 countries, accounting for 12.58% of the global emission, on Wednesday committed to join the Agreement this year -- virtually assuring that the climate deal will enter into force in 2016.
"This momentum is remarkable," the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in New York.
"It can sometimes take years or even decades for a treaty to enter into force. It is just nine months since the Paris climate conference. This is testament to the urgency of the crisis we all face", Ban Ki-moon was quoted as saying by the UN media.
Adopted by 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last December in Paris, the Paris 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.
"The early entry into force of the Paris Agreement would trigger the operational provisions of the agreement and accelerate efforts to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to build climate resilience", said the UN statement issued in New York.
The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to review progress and to consider how to strengthen the level of ambition as countries recognised that the present level of climate actions, pledged by individual nations, were still not sufficient to save the world from the adverse impact of climate change. While the two biggest polluters - China and USA - had joined the Agreement early this month, the third biggest polluter India, accounting for 4.1% of the global emission, is expected to ratify it sometime next year.
Countries that deposited their instruments of ratification at New York event on Wednesday included Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Dominica, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, Kiribati, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, Tonga, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Vanuatu.
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"Early entry into force of the Agreement would have been an important signal and step forward to protect the lives of millions of people around the world. European countries' failure to ratify today is a dent in the climate leadership. The EU must now swiftly agree to ratification. And in order to reclaim its role as a true climate leader it must take early action, before 2020, to ensure that keeping the world below 1.5 degree warming is not an elusive dream", said Adriano Campolina, ActionAid Chief Executive.
The EU, however, announced to join the Agreement this year. Besides EU, the countries that announced their commitment to join the Agreement in 2016 included Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Poland, and the Republic of Korea.
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