SIGNATURE OF THE PARIS ACCORD AT COP21 WILL BE DEPOSITED IN NEW YORK OPENED FOR

USPA NEWS - Following the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the COP (Conference of the Parties), it will be deposited at the UN in New York and be opened for one year for signature on 22 April 2016--Mother Earth Day. The accord will enter into force after 55 countries that account for at least 55% of GHG.

Following the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the COP (Conference of the Parties), it will be deposited at the UN in New York and be opened for one year for signature on 22 April 2016--Mother Earth Day. The agreement will enter into force after 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DETAILS ON THE PARIS AGREEMENT BY UNFCCC------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “¢ All countries will submit adaptation communications, in which they may detail their adaptation priorities, support needs and plans. Developing countries will receive increased support for adaptation actions and the adequacy of this support will be assessed. “¢ The existing Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage will be significantly strengthened. “¢ The agreement includes a robust transparency framework for both action and support. The framework will provide clarity on countries´ mitigation and adaptation actions, as well as the provision of support. At the same time, it recognises that Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States have special circumstances.  “¢ The agreement includes a global stocktake starting in 2023 to assess the collective progress towards the goals of the agreement. The stocktake will be done every five years. “¢ The agreement includes a compliance mechanism, overseen by a committee of experts that operates in a non-punitive way. The COP also closed on a number of technical issues. “¢ Under the Kyoto Protocol, there is now a clear and transparent accounting method for carry-over credits for the second commitment period, creating a clear set of rules. “¢ The first round of international assessment and review process (IAR) that was launched in 2014 was successfully completed. “¢ A number of technical and implementation issues related to the existing arrangements on technology, adaptation, action for climate empowerment and capacity building were also successfully concluded.

ABOUT THE UNFCCC------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialised countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.