On April 22 – Earth Day – representatives from more than 100 countries will gather at the United Nations in New York to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is expected to be the largest single-day signing in the history of international accords. The terminology behind international agreements can be complicated, convoluted, and downright unappealing. But this could also be one of our generation’s most important international agreements, so it’s time to break through the jargon and get to know the Paris climate agreement. Let’s take on four of the questions you may be asking right now:

End extreme poverty. Fight inequality and injustice. Fix climate change. Whoa. The Global Goals are important, world-changing objectives that will require cooperation among governments, international organizations and world leaders. It seems impossible that the average person can make an impact. Should you just give up?

No! Change starts with you. Seriously. Every human on earth—even the most indifferent, laziest person among us—is part of the solution. Fortunately, there are some super easy things we can adopt into our routines that, if we all do it, will make a big difference.

We’ve made it easy for you and compiled just a few of the many things you can do to make an impact.

We are very pleased to announce our first winner of #Photo4Climate Instagram Challenge: congratulations Olumide Climate Idowu. Your photo from Nigeria captures how public #health is being compromised by waste. Here is the original caption:

#ClimateChange & #Health Matters.  Ibadan (Yoruba: Ìbàdàn or fully (Ìlú) Ẹ̀bá-Ọ̀dàn, meaning 'the city at the edge of the savannah' is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area, by population, in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of over 3.5 Million, and the country's largest metropolis by geographical area.
Climate Change Is Real. Poor Management of Our Canal Exposes Healthcare Workers, Waste Handlers and The Community to Infections, toxic effects and injuries. 
Therefore "Ibadan" can and must keep the environment safe. #LetsDoMore 
#Photo4Climate #ClimateWednesday 
Location: Bode Canal, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Photo by: Me

We do really appreciate all photos submitted, so they are featured on Connect4Climate Facebook album. We challenge you to continue to raise awareness and share your climate change story with us: this week's theme is #Water. Don't forget to follow @Connect4Climate on Instagram, using the hashtag #Photo4Climate and this week's theme #Water. Finalist photo will be displayed during the Paris Agreement Signing Ceremony on 22nd April 2016 at UN Headquarters, New York.

More details here.

A record number of countries are expected to sign the historic climate agreement adopted last December in Paris at a signing ceremony hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 22 April.

More than 130 countries have confirmed that they will sign the Paris Agreement on 22 April, the first day that the agreement will be open for signature.  This would surpass the previous record of 119 signatures for an opening day signing for an international agreement, set by the Law of the Sea in Montego Bay in 1994. In addition, more countries have informally indicated that they will sign the agreement, with the numbers increasing rapidly each week.

Over 60 Heads of State and Government will attend the ceremony, including French President François Hollande, demonstrating the continued high level of engagement by world leaders to accept and implement the Paris Agreement. 

The signing ceremony will mark the first step toward ensuring that the Paris Agreement enters into force as early as possible.  The agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the Secretary-General.

A number of countries have also indicated that they will deposit their instruments of ratification immediately after signing the agreement on 22 April.

The 22 April signing ceremony will also bring together leaders from civil society and the private sector to discuss efforts to boost financing for climate action and sustainable development, and to increase actions that would achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting average global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

“Paris was historic,” the Secretary-General said.  “But it’s only the beginning.  We must urgently accelerate our efforts to tackle climate change.  I encourage all countries to sign the Paris Agreement on 22 April so we can turn aspirations into action. ”

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Information on the 22 April Signing Ceremony can be found at www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climatechange

Media accreditation for the Signing Ceremony event ends 8 April.  For information, see http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/confirm.shtml

For further information, please contact Dan Shepard, tel 1 212 963-9495; email: shepard@un.org