UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged heads of member states on Friday to speed up the ratification of the Paris climate change agreement reached in Paris last December.
"But records are also being broken outside. Record global temperatures, record ice [melting], record carbon levels in the atmosphere. We are in a race against time. I urge all countries to move quickly to join the agreement at the national level so that the Paris Agreement can enter into force as early as possible," he stressed.
Heads of state and government, foreign ministers, or other representatives with formal powers, are expected to sign the 31-page Paris Agreement later in the day.
Ban noted that the Paris Agreement, signed at the December 12 UN Climate Change Conference (COP21), would help eradicate poverty, create green jobs, prevent hunger, instability, and improve lives. He reiterated that the agreement meets the 169-point 2030 Sustainable Development Goals adopted last September.
