Leaders from over 170 countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change, giving a strong push to international efforts against global warming.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon hosted the signing ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York--- seen as a critical step to ensure early adoption of the legally binding accord aimed at curbing global warming.

The agreement sets a target of holding the global average rise in temperature below 2 degrees Celsius and preferably below 1.5 degrees.

It also calls for greenhouse gas emissions to be limited to the level that can be absorbed naturally by trees, soil and oceans during the second half of the century.

Each country's contribution to cutting emissions will be reviewed every five years.

Richer countries will need to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

The agreement comes into force 30 days after at least 55 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ratified it after signing.

-ANC's Dateline Philippines, April 23, 2016