| Danial Norjidi |
BRUNEI Darussalam joined 174 other countries in making history as it signed the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States of America, on Friday.
The high-level signing ceremony for the agreement was opened by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and attended by heads of state, heads of government, ministers and delegates of the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The milestone event saw the Paris Agreement signed by 175 countries – the largest number of countries to ever sign an international agreement on a single day.
At the conclusion of the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris in December last year, 196 parties adopted the agreement for countries to work to limit the rise of global temperature to well below two degrees Celcius. The agreement will come into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, ratify it.
Fifteen countries took the opportunity of the historic event to follow through with immediate deposition of instruments of ratification, while all other signatories were urged to ratify the agreement to ensure that it can enter into force as soon as possible.
Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office, Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar signing the agreement. – EIDPMO
Signing on behalf of the Government of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam was Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, the Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“On behalf of Brunei Darussalam and the Government of Brunei Darussalam, we are very honoured to be here today to be part of this historic event that marks a new level of global action towards combating climate change based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” said the minister in a statement at the event.
The signing of the Paris Agreement not only symbolises political commitment, but is “a global plea for each and every one of us to play our individual but important role in addressing climate change and bringing the impending threat towards humanity to an end,” he said.
The minister highlighted that regardless of Brunei’s relatively low output accounting for about 0.016 per cent of the total global emissions, Brunei’s commitment to combating climate change stands strong as a national priority and the country will work towards implementing the Paris Agreement.
This movement towards action against climate change will open up economic and entrepreneurial opportunities and innovation in the private sector in developing green technology and economy in Brunei Darussalam, he said.
“With the commitment of over 170 countries here today, Brunei Darussalam stands as one of the smallest, but equally as important, partners in this agreement.
“It is here that I reaffirm His Majesty speech in 2014 on the importance for all countries, including developing nations, to be properly equipped to face climate change and its adverse effects.
“In this regard, we look forward to working together with countries that have more advanced technology in this area for affordable and accessible capacity building and knowledge transfer.
“Brunei Darussalam will continue to work to meet our international commitments for climate change including submitting the Initial National Communications and pursue the practical actions and measures set out in our Intended National Determined Communications in a timely and effective manner,” the minister added.
Speaking to the Sunday Bulletin in a phone interview yesterday, the minister said, “I think this is very significant because after so many years of hard work, today 175 countries signed this agreement.
“You can call this Paris Agreement a ‘game changer’ for the climate change agenda.”
“Climate change and the effect of it – people feel it now. The weather is getting worse year to year. Every year seems to be the hardest year of the last 10, 20 years.
“So climate change is for real, and with the Paris Agreement, countries are now all committed to bringing it under control so that the world at least will recover from these years of environmental pollution,” he said.
Speaking on what the Paris Agreement means for Brunei, the minister said, “I see this as an opportunity to Brunei to show that it is a good global citizen who is very concerned.
“It doesn’t matter how small our contribution to this is, we are very concerned because it affects the other global citizens in this world.
“For us it’s an opportunity to show we are a good global citizen, to show that we are committed to this climate change agenda, and third, the green economy,” he added.
In conjunction with the signing ceremony, a high-level event on climate implementation, ‘Taking Climate Action to the Next Level: Realising the Vision of the Paris Agreement’ was also organised to highlight how all actors of society and economy can accelerate action to implement the Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement is an international accord within the framework of the UNFCCC dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020.
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