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nvironment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar signed the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change along with the leaders and representatives of 155 countries, including major emitters such as the US and China, at the UN headquarters, in New York, on Friday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon officially opened the session at the general assembly hall. French President Francois Hollande, the host of the Paris meeting was also present.

Apart from signing the document all countries were also asked to deliver their national road map to reach their target on carbon-emission reduction and to combat climate change during the session.

It coincided with International Mother Earth Day, which falls on April 22 every year as mandated by the UN General Assembly in 2009. The theme for this year is “Trees for Earth”.

The minister declined to explain why President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo did not attend the ceremony. She said only that she had informed the President about the signing ceremony long before the event. He instructed the minister to represent him at the UN.

“In his official letter, the President instructed me to act on his behalf to sign the agreement,” Siti told The Jakarta Post on Thursday (New York time).

She quickly added that Jokowi’s attendance at the Paris Summit and his announcement at that time to drastically improve the country’s environment was solid evidence of Indonesia’s strong commitment to combating climate change.

Amid strong international pressure and criticism of last year’s massive forest fires mainly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Jokowi announced his ambition to decrease forest fires and environmental destruction.

In his speech during the Paris summit in November last year, the President outlined an ambitious plan to combat forest fires and to preserve forests.

“For that purpose, Indonesia is committed to reducing its emissions by 29 percent under business as usual in 2030 and 41 percent with international help,” the President said at that time.

Major emitters such us the US and China have also pledged to sign the global deal. It was approved by 196 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris.

According to the agreement all countries agreed to limit the global temperature rise. They are committed to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius for industrialized countries and 1.5 degrees Celsius for developing nations.

The UN members are also required to ratify the agreement in accordance with their national laws.

“We will not just ratify it, we even intend to make it into a larger scope for combating climate change,” Siti said. Traditionally the House of Representatives simply ratifies international agreements without additional chapters.

Siti explained the government was now preparing an academic draft of the bill. She has also informed the House about the expanded ratification plan.

While admitting that the international community still paid serious attention to Indonesia because of last year’s forest fires, the minister insisted that the government would not take into account international pressure during the ratification.

The Paris Agreement will become effective on the 30th day after the date on which at least 55 parties, which have cut at least 55 percent of total emissions of greenhouse gases, have reached the full requirements under the agreement, the statement said.