Malaysia To Ratify Paris Climate Change Agreement This Week

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will ratify the Paris Climate Change Agreement in Marrakech, Morocco, this week to tackle global warming. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the working paper had already been approved by the Cabinet and the ratification documents submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in New York through Wisma Putra (Malaysia's Foreign Ministry). "After ratification, we can start to engage directly and join the technical discussions on the questions of modality, research and regulations relating to the issue of global warming," he told reporters after opening the 11th Asia Pacific Mineral Resource Exhibition and Conference 2016, here, Thursday. The agreement will also be a platform to obtain financial allocations under the Paris Treaty Climate Change Fund, especially for the country's reforestation programme. "This is part of our efforts to achieve the national target to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 45 per cent by 2030 and to ensure that 50 per cent of the earth's surface is covered with forests," he said. Since April, 197 countries have signed the agreement as an initiative to curb global warming. However, to enforce the agreement, at least 55 countries must ratify the agreement and it is understood that so far, only 28 countries have done so. --BERNAMA