Nicaragua has announced it will join the Paris Agreement on climate change, with Vice President Rosario Murillo calling the international pact “the only instrument we have in the world that allows the unity of intentions and efforts to face up to climate change and natural disasters.” The move leaves the United States, the world’s largest economy, and war-torn Syria as the only countries not participating in the agreement.
Murillo told a local radio station on Monday that Nicaraguan officials have already filed the necessary documents with the United Nations to formally join the agreement, according to Reuters.
Nicaragua initially refused to sign the Paris Agreement in 2015, arguing that the pact didn’t go far enough in combating climate change.
Nearly 200 countries have signed on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement. The United States, a leader in the creation of the global pact, committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. But President Donald Trump announced in June that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, calling the accord “very unfair at the highest level to the United States.” The administration filed its withdrawal notice with the UN in August.
