CARICOM Climate Change Ministers meet to chart way forward

CARICOM Ministers responsible for Climate Change today wrapped up a two day-day review of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and an assessment of the opportunities it provides for the Region.
Their engagement came just ahead of the CARICOM Heads of Government 27th Inter-Sessional Meeting to be held in Belize 16 – 17 February, and is expected to guide deliberations on this matter.
COP 21 (the 21st Conference of the Parties) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held this past December in Paris, France. It produced the “Paris Agreement”, a new international agreement on climate change in which countries agreed to limit global warming to as far below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level as possible and striving to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and work toward low carbon development, and to ensure financial flows consistent with a low greenhouse gas emission pathway and climate resilient development.
CARICOM Member States contributed significantly to the drafting of the Paris Agreement and a successful outcome in Paris.
The Paris Agreement will be opened for signature and ratification at the United Nations in New York in April 2016. CARICOM Members will be urged to participate in this signing ceremony and become parties to the Paris Agreement to bring it into force as soon as possible. The Paris Agreement will enter into force when at least 55 countries representing at least 55 per cent of global emissions become Parties to the Agreement.