Three days ago, the landmark Paris Agreement, came into force. Now, the Marrakesh Conference, which begins Monday, 7 November, in Morocco, will give the world the opportunity to maintain momentum on climate action, and continue strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change.

“Our challenge is to sustain the momentum that has propelled the Agreement into force,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York last week. He convened a meeting with civil society representatives from all over the world and thanked them for the “vision, courage, persistence and leadership [that] made this day happen.”

The Paris Agreement, adopted by 196 States Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last December,  aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. Countries will try to ensure that global temperature rise this century will be kept at about 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In early October, the accord cleared the final threshold of 55 countries representing 55 per cent of global emissions required for the accord to come into effect within one month. Its entry into force was extremely swift, particularly for an agreement that required a large number of ratifications and the two specific thresholds.

The Agreement entered into force in time for the UNFCCC Marrakech Climate Conference, known by the shorthand COP 22, that begins in Morocco this Monday, where the first Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement will open on 15 November. Before the meeting wraps up on 18 November, parties hope to define the rules for the accord and to lay out a viable plan for providing at least $100 billion a year to developing countries to support climate action.

“The UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech is the crucial next step for governments looking to operationalize the Paris Climate Change Agreement adopted last year,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

While the Paris Agreement gave us the road map to decisive action on climate change, many of the details regarding how to move forward together in that common direction still need to be resolved.

This is a moment of celebration but also a moment of reflection on the task ahead. It is a point where governments recommit to the new agenda of rapid implementation. They have to  press forward with adequate support for vulnerable countries to take their own action.

The President-Designate of COP 22, Salaheddine Mezouar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco, said: “Marrakesh will be the COP of inflexion. Besides moving forward on major negotiation areas, action is taking more space and creating a tangible bridge between our vision for a brighter future and the implementation of concrete climate responsible projects on the ground.”

“We, Parties as well as non-State actors, have here a real opportunity to emphasize this momentum, celebrate successes and share experiences and learning to set inclusively the path forward for action,” he added.

COP 22 will include a number of meetings and high-level events , including the high-level segment to be attended by dozens of chiefs of State and Government, on Tuesday 15 November.

“We remain in a race against time. But with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world has the plans we need to make the shift to a low-emission, climate-resilient path”, the UN Secretary-General said.

  climate change, Sustainable Development Goals, UN, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations