About three months after it signed the Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016, Peru last Monday (25 July 2016) deposited its instrument of ratification of the climate pact with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Peru, which hosted the 20th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP20) to the UNFCCC in its capital city of Lima in December 2014, becomes the 20th state to deposit its instrument of ratification.
This is coming as Nigeria plans to formally sign the global treaty in a couple of months. Indications are that President Muhammadu Buhari, while attending the 71st Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA71) at the UN Headquarters in September, will sign the agreement.
President Buhari, it was gathered, will also speak at the 5th anniversary event of the Open Government Partnership at the UNGA17 on September 20, 2016.
Nigeria was not among the over 155 listed countries that signed the Paris Agreement at a high-level ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday (22 April, 2016), on Mother Earth Day. Officials attributed this to the fact that an internal stakeholder consultation process needed to be conducted before an endorsement of the climate pact.
At the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in Paris, France, the Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement under the UNFCCC.
The Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary General in New York. At that ceremony, 174 States and the European Union signed the agreement and 15 States also deposited their instruments of ratification.
As of 25 July 2016, there are 178 signatories to the Paris Agreement. Of these, 20 States have also deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 0.40 % of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.
The Agreement shall enter into force on the 13th day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention, accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 % of the total global greenhouse gas emissions, have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary.
Authoritative information on the status of the Paris Agreement, including information on signatories to the Agreement, ratification and entry into force, is provided by the Depositary, through the United Nations Treaty Collection website can be accessed here as well as here.
By Michael Simire
