PM Stuart to sign and ratify Paris Agreement on climate change

PRIME MINISTER Freundel Stuart will, within a few days, sign and ratify on behalf of Government, the Paris Agreement which was recently adopted at the Twenty-first Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP21).

Stuart left the island today to attend the High-Level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals on Thursday, April 21, and the High-Level Signature Ceremony for the Paris Agreement on Friday, April 22, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. 

Members of the Barbados delegation will include Minister of the Environment, Dr Denis Lowe; Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Sonja Welch; permanent representative of Barbados to the United Nations, Keith Marshall; deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Juliette Babb-Riley; consul-general at New York, Dr Donna Hunte-Cox; consul at that NY Office, John Blackman; and senior environmental officer, Travis Sinckler.

Barbados has played a leading role over the years in helping to craft the landmark and legally-binding outcome document of the COP21. Prime Minister Stuart, who was also Chairman of CARICOM, joined other world leaders late last year in Paris to negotiate the much-anticipated agreement.

“I see the signing and the ratification of the Paris Agreement, therefore, as one of the most significant achievements of the 21st Century relating to the continued existence of humankind and involving over 190 countries from all over the globe.

 “The urgency which inspired the negotiation and conclusion of this agreement, aimed at saving our planet, continues to be attached to its signing and ratification, as well as the implementation of its provisions. Barbados, as a Small Island Developing State, therefore has heeded the call of the United Nations Secretary-General for the speediest ratification possible, in order for the Paris Agreement to come into force at the earliest opportunity,” Stuart said.

 Meanwhile, the upcoming high-level thematic debate on Thursday will bring together global political, business and civil society leaders to focus on kick-starting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The meeting will seek to answer a number of questions, including how to build from the baseline of the 2030 Agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, respectively, by identifying needed climate and other actions. (SA/BGIS)