UN chief hails climate accord, plans signing ceremony, follow-up action summit

Back from the Paris climate change meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called the accord reached among 195 nations aiming to limit the planet's temperature increase within 2 degrees Celsius "a health insurance policy for the planet."

Ban returned to New York Sunday from the two-week conference held on the outskirts of Paris. He also said at the press conference here that there would be a high-level signing ceremony here at UN Headquarters April 22, 2016 and that the UN was "planning to have a big gathering of government, business and civil society action summit" on May 5-6, 2016.

"The countries of the world have made a historic choice," he told reporters outside UN Security Council chambers. "They have unanimously decided to work as one to rise to the defining challenge of our times. The Paris Agreement is a victory for people, for the common good, and for multilateralism. It is a health insurance policy for the planet."

"It is the most significant action in years to uphold our (UN) Charter mandate to 'save succeeding generations,' he said, quoting from the opening words of the document agreed on 70 years ago which begins, "We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war ... and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom ..."

In response to a query saying there were critics complaining the Paris accord was not strong enough, the secretary-general replied, "This is ambitious, strong. In terms of ambition, people have agreed to contain the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees, and we will continue to strive to beat this -- even 1.5 degrees Celsius."

"This is a very ambitious target at this time," he said. "It has also very strong accountability and transparency. They have agreed to have a five-year cycle review. This will help. The parties to this Convention and Paris agreement will be monitored regularly."

Ban also pointed out that the nations already agreed to have a review session in 2018, before the agreement takes effect five years from now while the first official review session is due in 2023. "Therefore, it is quite strong and ambitious."

Asked if he thought there might be some positive spillover from the accord to other problems facing this troubled world, the secretary-general replied, "I was extremely encouraged and happy to see that all these 196 parties whether they even have their own domestic local challenges, they were one; they were united as one, believing that the global action, and global solutions, will benefit local solutions."

"This is a great success and triumph of multilateralism," he said. "I am very conscious of criticism and concerns from the international community about the effectiveness and efficiencies of multilateralism. But this time, they have shown their strong commitment for the common good of people and the planet." Enditem