As Nigeria celebrates its 60th Independence Day, President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, October 2, 2020 signed the Instrument of Ratification of the Doha Amendment of the Kyota Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Announcing the development, Minister of Environment, Dr Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, stated that the ratification of the Doha Amendment by Mr President has made Nigeria the 144th country to sign the climate treaty, saying that it was critical as it signified the coming into effect of the protocol.
The Minister assured that the Federal Republic of Nigeria has accepted the amendment to the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, assuring that the federal government would faithfully perform and carry out the stipulations contained in the amended Protocol.
While the 1997 Kyoto Protocol set binding climate targets for developed countries, the amendment signed in Qatar in 2012 extended their obligations and created a second commitment period for 37 countries to cut their emissions from 2013 to 2020.
According to the Minister, “under the Doha Amendment, countries were collectively required to cut emissions by at least 18% below 1990 levels by 2020, by investing in carbon-cutting projects.
“The ratified treaty provides closure to the climate regime established in Kyoto as the world moves to implement the Paris Agreement, which requires every country to contribute climate targets.”
The UN Climate Change confirmed that Nigeria had formally endorsed the climate treaty, hours before a deadline that required 144 of the 192 signatories to ratify the deal, for it to come into force on 31 December 2020 — a day before it is due to expire.
The Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, while expressing profound gratitude to President Buhari for signing the amended UNFCCC document, hailed Nigeria for joining other world nations to endorse the climate treaty.
