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and to build climate resilience. The Agreement obligates developed countries
to provide the support to countries like the Philippines, over and above their
ODA, and over and above any humanitarian assistance in the event of
disasters.
There are several things that the Paris Agreement does NOT do:
• The Paris Agreement does not ultimately solve climate change and is far from
a perfect agreement. It will take more than the Paris Agreement to solve
climate change once and for all. If we take into account this “voluntary
system” of pledging climate action, the Paris Agreement is still going to bring
us close to 3 degrees of global warming, which is unacceptable and
unimaginable. However, no international agreement has the illusion of solving
the problem once and for all. It is a very important step towards finding the
lasting solution to climate change.
• The Paris Agreement does not replace, supersede, or repeal the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change. The UNFCCC remains as the
framework convention for any new agreement and the Paris Agreement is
under the UNFCCC. It should be noted that the UNFCCC is a well-balanced
international treaty adopted in 1992 and all of its provisions and principles
should continue to apply for all member states. The Paris Agreement does not
supersede or repeal any provisions of the Convention.
• The Paris Agreement does not yet take effect today. It only enters into force
as an international treaty, but only takes effect post-2020. All stipulations
under the Paris Agreement will only be implemented after the year 2020.
• The Paris Agreement does not create legally binding mitigation commitments.
The legal nature of ‘contributions’ is starkly different from ‘commitments’.
The word “commitment” does not appear in the Paris Agreement, because
developed countries (e.g. U.S., EU, Japan, Canada, Australia, etc) and
emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, South Africa) refused to use the
word "commitment.” Other developing countries like the Philippines wanted
the use of “commitment” for developed countries, and “contribution” for
developing countries. In the end, instead of all countries having
“commitments”, all countries now have “contributions”. Until today, the legal
bindingness of “contributions” is a gray area and erring on the side of caution,
“contributions” should not be interpreted as being legally binding. Wittingly
or unwittingly, the Paris Agreement in a way allows developed countries to
evade the legally binding commitments they had under the Convention and
the Kyoto Protocol.
• The Paris Agreement does not terminate or conclude the negotiations in
enhancing the implementation of the original Climate Convention. Between
2016 and 2020, negotiations will continue to determine the rules, mechanisms,
and arrangements for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The