Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November - December 2016 vol.11 No.6 | Page 26

Paris Climate Agreement: Hard Work Starts Now

T

he Paris Climate Change Agreement Enters into
force on Friday 4 November, just days before the
UN’s 22nd climate change conference begins in
Marrakech, Morocco.
“It’s a historic milestone for the whole world, especially for
international cooperation, it’s unprecedented, however the
hard work starts (now),” Yeb Sano, former chief climate
change negotiator of the Philippines told IPS.
The swift entry into force of the agreement, which was
reached in December 2015, means that the Conference of
the Parties (COP) in Marrakech will now be able to focus on
implementation, President of the UN General Assembly,
Peter Thomson has said.
“The early ratification has been tremendously satisfying. It
allows us to go to Marrakech with Marrakech seen as an
action Conference of the Parties (COP),” said Thomson.
By international agreement standards – the Paris deal has
come into force unusually quickly.
With rising global temperatures continuously breaking
records, a diverse group of countries raced to join the
agreement to ensure that implementation of the agreement
could begin as soon as possible.
However, one reason why countries were able to join so
quickly is because the agreement is not legally binding.
As Sano points out, the agreement “(falls) short on holding
those are supposed to be accountable for the climate crisis.”
“The phrase fossil fuel does not appear even once in this
document and the word commitment does not even appear
in the Paris agreement.”

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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November - December 2016

The early entry into force – while historic – also creates “an
awkward situation,” says Sano. Marrakech organizers will
now have to decide if those who have not yet fully joined
the agreement – about half of the 193 signatories to the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) –
will be able to participate fully in ongoing talks.
This could potentially affect some of the poorest countries,
which have not yet been able to join, Clare Shakya, Director
of the International Institute for Environment and
Development’s Climate Change Group said.
“It’s important that … the poorest countries are not left out
of the room,” she said.
Many developing countries however led the push for
the early into force arguing that developing countries –
including small island developing states (SIDS) – are already
being negatively impacted by climate change.
“It’s great news that Paris has entered into force so quickly
and that it has at its heart equity and ambition,” said Shakya.
“The ambition that the least developed countries wanted
was this 1.5 degree target and that’s the aspiration of the
agreement, so there’s huge optimism.”
“The delivery (now) has to meet those same principles of
equity and ambition and that’s where in Marrakech we’re
really going to start to see how that is evidenced.”
The 1.5 degree target is considered essential for small island
developing states (SIDS), like Fiji, where Thomson is from.
“1.5 is where things start changing and we’re almost there,”
he said.
“For SIDS nothing could be more important – tropical