The Paris Agreement dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance came into force in Croatia on the 23rd of June 2017.
All member countries of the European Union have committed themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for at least 40 percent by 2030 in order to mitigate effects of global warming and stop a further rise in air temperature.
''Croatia will dedicatedly fulfil its obligations from the Paris Agreement as well as other member countries of the EU and the world that have ratified this extremely important document. We are aware of the consequences of global warming that occur in our region as well'', commented Tomislav Coric, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy while referring to floods and longer periods of drought in the country.
Representatives of 196 parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris signed the agreement and adopted it by consensus on the 12th of December 2015. As of June 2017, 195 members of the UNFCCC have signed the agreement, out of which 150 of them have ratified it. Croatia is the 147th country, which has ratified the agreement.
The main goal of the agreement is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, said the Ministry.
According to climate models and scenarios, experts estimate that by 2100 temperatures in Croatia will rise from 2.4 to 4.9 Celsius degrees. A general trend of extreme droughts and floods is also present and is disastrous to all human activities. Global climate change also effects sea temperature and salinity thus changes structure and functioning of the ecosystem.
A long coastal line makes Croatia very vulnerable to sea level rising. Coastal sensitivity to sea level rise has also been observed in historic cores of cities and towns such as Nin, Zadar, Sibenik, Split, Stari Grad, and Dubrovnik. However, the valley of the River Neretva is also vulnerable to sea-level changes, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy.