Esther Opaluwah
The Republic of Senegal has become the 81st country to submit its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
With this submission, the UNFCCC Secretariat reports that Senegal has joined the list of African countries that have done so including Gabon, Kenya, Ethiopia, Benin, South Africa, Gambia, Cameroon, Mauritius and Central African Republic.
All Parties to the UNFCCC are expected to submit INDCs in advance of the Paris Climate Change Conference, which will take place in November-December 2015. Those submitted by 1 October 2015 will be included in a synthesis report on their aggregate effect by 1 November 2015. Parties are anticipated to agree on a global climate change agreement to take effect in 2020 at the Paris Climate Change Conference.
The Paris agreement will empower all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.
Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.
