Seychelles joins the majority of the States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in signing the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change which aims to enact policies to effect greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance, starting in the year 2020.

A total of 176 countries including Seychelles have heeded the call of the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and signed this agreement which reaffirms the strong commitment of Governments of the world to deliver on the promises made when the agreement was brokered in Paris last December 2015. The Signing ceremony held in New York is but the first step towards the implementation of the agreements.

Individual countries must now complete internal procedures of ratification before the agreement can come into force. To cement the Paris agreement international policy on climate change, a minimum of 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions must ratify the Paris Agreement. Only then will the agreement be legally binding to all its signatories.

Seychelles implores the rapid ratification by other countries to ensure implementation of this agreement commence swiftly. Seychelles also calls on all the governments to take the challenge and to show continued political will, and fulfill the commitments to achieve the future that we want.

The Agreement was signed by Ambassador Marie-Louise Potter, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Seychelles to the United Nations, on behalf of Seychelles Head of State, Mr. James A. Michel.

Thus far 15 countries have ratified this agreement, most of them Small Island Developing States with low carbon footprint, including Barbados, Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Nauru, Palau, Palestine, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Somalia and Tuvalu.