22nd September 2016 On Wednesday, 21st September 2016 the Office of the UN Secretary General hosted a one-hour special event for the Paris Agreement in the margins of the high-level week of the seventy-first session of the General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarter in New York. The Kingdom of Tonga joined other 31 countries deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession of the Paris Agreement. “The adoption, signing and ratification of the Paris Agreement are wonderful news but by no means the end,” stated Ms. Patricia Espinosa the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (UNFCCC).
Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of MEIDECC, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, deposited Tonga’s instrument of signing of the Paris Agreement on the 22nd of April 2016 on behalf of the Kingdom of Tonga. On the 12th of August 2016, His Majesty King Tupou VI assented to the domestic ratification processes in His Privy Council at Nukuʻalofa. Today, 21st of September 2016 the Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon. Samuela ʻAkilisi Pohiva deposited the instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga.
High-level Event on the Entry into Force of the Paris Agreement, Photo Courtesy: UN Photo Library
This is a major achievement, whereby Tonga successfully contributed to the fulfillment of the first threshold for 55 countries to ratify the Paris Agreement with 60 countries ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to the Paris Agreement with the UNʻs Depositary, adding to the 29 countries that have deposited their instrument over the past few months. The UN General Secretary, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon stated that, “This momentum is remarkable, it can sometimes take years or even decades for a treaty to enter into force. It is just nine months since the Paris climate conference. This is testament to the urgency of the crisis we all face.”
The second threshold for an early entry into force of the Paris Agreement is to account for 55 percent of the total emission and to date it has reached 47.76 percent. Ms. Patricia Espinosa said, “Today we can say with ever more confidence that this historic moment is likely to come very soon, perhaps even by the time governments meet for the next round of climate negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco in November.”
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Issued by the: Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Climate Change and Communications