It was a momentous occasion in New York at the United Nations headquarters as the Cook Islands is the 176th Country to sign the Paris Agreement. The honorable Minister Mark Brown, Minister of Finance signed the Paris Agreement on Friday 24th of June.
The agreement was approved in Paris December 2015, after years of U.N. Climate Change negotiations.
Director of Climate Change Cook Islands Ana Tiraa said, “The Paris Agreement aims to slow the rise of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, blamed for putting Earth on a dangerous warming path, which has negative impacts, in particular for low lying islands.
The deal sets a target limiting global warming by 2100 to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F), as compared to pre-industrial levels. To accomplish that, each nation sets its own target for reducing emission and updates that mark each year.
“The Paris Agreement demonstraties how we can mobilize our collective strength, and keep the focus on preserving our world. Not just for us today but for those to come in future generations”, said Tiraa.
“For many years, the Cook Islands has played an active role in the fight against Climate Change, and the broad, adverse impacts on the lives of our people. The Cook Islands has stood proudly alongside our Pacific brothers and sisters in this long and complex debate”, continues Tiraa.
The fight has been argued all over the globe in every corner of the developed and undeveloped world. The Cook Islands is most proud of achievements that were secured in Paris late last year at the 21st Conference of the Parties. The most vulnerable of all the nations in the world were heard loud and clear and the Cook Islands was a strong voice amidst the Small Islands Developing States.
Photo: Hon. Mark Brown with Santiago Villalpando, Chief of the Treaty Section, the United Nations.