Record Number Of Nations Sign Historic Paris Agreement On Climate Change
“You are the last, best hope of Earth,” Leonardo DiCaprio told world leaders on Friday.
More than 160 counties gathered at the United Nations on Friday to sign the historic Paris agreement on climate change, with the main goal of keeping a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius this century.
Mary Altaffer / AP
The agreement was hailed by the UN as a landmark given that it set a single-day record for number of nations signing on.
The number of signatories surpassed the previous record of 119 signatures for an opening day signing of an international agreement set in 1982 by the Law of the Sea in Montego Bay, according to the UN.
The main aim of the agreement is to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius and to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
"The 1.5-degree Celsius limit is a significantly safer defense line against the worst impacts of a changing climate," the UN stated.