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By Cletus Mushanawani

President Mugabe left Harare today for Marrakech, Morocco where he is expected to join other Heads of State and Government attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change currently underway.

President Mugabe, who is accompanied by Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Cde Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as well as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting, Mr George Charamba, was seen off at Harare International Airport by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, Cabinet ministers Dr Sydney Sekeramayi, Sithembiso Nyoni and Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs Miriam Chikukwa, service chiefs and senior Government officials.

The two-week 22nd Conference of the Parties, or COP 22, started just days after the 2015 Paris climate accord entered into legal force on November 4, 2016.

Adopted by 196 States Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change last December, the Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In early October, the accord cleared the final threshold of 55 countries representing 55 percent 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.

 Details to follow…