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India ratifies Paris climate agreement

Xinhua, October 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

India on Sunday ratified the historic Paris agreement on climate change by depositing the instrument of ratification with the United Nations, officials said.

India's ambassador to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin handed over Instrument of ratification signed by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to Santiago Villalpando, head of the treaties division during a ceremony in New York.

India's formal consent to cut global green house gas emissions will give a significant push for the deal to enter into force by the end of this year.

Last week Indian government headed by Narendra Modi gave its approval to ratify the Paris agreement, which is expected to give impetus to implementation of measures to control global warming at international level.

India's ratification to the agreement coincided with the birth anniversary of country's most celebrated independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

"India keeps its promise," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup wrote on twitter. "On Gandhiji's birth anniversary we deposit the instrument of ratification of Paris agreement on climate change."

"India now joins the 61 other Parties that have deposited their instruments of ratification, which, including India, together account for close to 52 per cent of total global greenhouse emissions," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

"India's leadership moves the world an important step closer toward the 55 percent threshold needed for the historic agreement's entry into force this year."

The agreement will enter into force one month after 55 countries that account for 55 percent of global emissions ratify the agreement.

"With today's action by India, which accounts for 4.1 per cent of the emissions, the agreement only needs slightly more than 3 percentage points to reach the 55 per cent threshold," a UN statement said.

Adopted in Paris by the 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at a conference known as COP21 last December, the agreement was signed in New York on April 22 this year.

It asks the participants to act to curb the rise in global temperatures that is resulting in melting of glaciers, raising sea water levels and shifting rainfall patterns. Endit