Pak 104th country to ratify Paris pact

Pakistan has ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at a ceremony held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, becoming the 104th country in the world to ratify the landmark deal.

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, deposited the Instrument of Ratification signed by the President of Pakistan. “With the ratification, Pakistan has become the 104th country to ratify the agreement, which entered into force earlier this month,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.

Pakistan had signed the agreement on the first day of its opening for signature in New York in April this year.

On October 5, 2016, the conditions for the agreement’s entry into force were met which required ratification by at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement obliges member states to keep global warming below 2 centigrade regarded as the threshold for safety by experts and scientists. Pakistan’s ratification is in line with its firm commitment to the purposes and objectives of the Climate Convention.