A demonstration is held to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, outside the White House in Washington D.C. June 1, 2017. Donald Trump said on Thursday that he has decided to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, a landmark global pact to deal with climate change. (Xinhua/Yan Liang)
LUSAKA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The decision by the U.S. government to withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Agreement will affect developing nations like Zambia, a senior government official said on Friday.
Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Lloyd Kaziya said the planned withdraw was a blow to developing countries who were adversely being affected by the negative effects of climate change.
Developing countries, he said, needed developed nations like the U.S. to help in mitigating the side effects of climate change, adding that the withdraw of one major developed countries was a blow, according to HOT FM radio.
"It is a serious tragedy because we need these super powers to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Right now we are struggling to get financing from the Green Climate Fund and the decision by the U.S. will just worsen the situation," he said.
On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he will withdraw his country from the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
A demonstration is held to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, outside the White House in Washington D.C. June 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Yan Liang)
The announcement has received criticism from many parts of the world, with environmental campaigners saying American absence will make it considerable harder for the remaining countries to reach their agreed goals, given that the U.S. was responsible for about 15 percent of global emissions of carbon and promised 3 billion U.S. dollars to help other countries.
The Paris Agreement commits the U.S. and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
U.S. payments to the UN Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, will stop following the announcement to pull out.
