Climate Change: Ghana's former President John Mahama has some strong words for Donald Trump

John Dramani Mahama believes Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement "comes from a truly misinformed position".

Ghana's immediate past president, John Dramani Mahama has weighed in heavily on the USA's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

Mahama, Ghana's president from 2012 to 2017, took to Twitter on Thursday to criticize U.S President Donald Trump's attempts to "sacrifice global interest to pander to a narrow domestic political base" by his controversial decision to leave the global agreement on Climate Change, which was adopted by consensus in December 2015.

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President Trump on Thursday caused shock waves across the world by announcing that the U.S.A would be pulling out of the agreement, which was made within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and currently has 195 signatories, of which 148 have formally ratified.

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Mahama, who was president of Ghana when the West African nation formally became a signatory in April 2016, said in a series of tweets:

"We all worked hard to reach the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. US contributes 20% of CO2 pollution in the atmosphere.

"From Ghana, Former President J.A Kufuor was one of the eminent coordinators at the COP21.

"Sacrificing global interest to pander to a narrow domestic political base is eroding US leadership of the world."

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Mahama later released an official statement, in which he said Trump's decision "comes from a truly misinformed position," calling Thursday "a sad day for global cooperation".

 

The Paris Agreement was reached in order to mitigate the threat of global warming by controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the agreement, the signatories commit to "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2?°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5?°C above pre-industrial levels."

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President Trump defended his decision by arguing that he was only fulfilling his "solemn duty to protect America and its citizens", claiming that the agreement would cost the US $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs.

"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," he said at the White House, going on to add that he was ready to negotiate a new agreement in order reenter on improved terms.

John Dramani Mahama believes Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement "comes from a truly misinformed position". Read Full Story