Mexico's Environment Secretary, Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, delivered the country's ratification of the Paris Agreement to the United Nations on Wednesday, bringing Mexico into the fold of the now-60 countries who have ratified this groundbreaking treaty to combat global climate change with domestic action. Those 60 countries account for 47.76% of emissions worldwide.

In fact, Mexico is the latest of many Latin American countries that have taken this important step, with others on the way. Latin American countries are among the world's hardest hit by climate change impacts. Melting glaciers, increased flooding and droughts, devastated coral reefs, and decreased agricultural yields are just some of the ways in which people and the environment are already suffering in the region.

These impacts have a significant financial burden, too: experts have estimated that economic losses caused by global warming could amount to $100 billion annually by 2050 in Latin America and the Caribbean. It's no wonder, then, that 61% of the region's citizens believe that climate change is the most serious threat facing the planet.

That's also why - just like in the lead-up to the Paris negotiations that resulted in the treaty - Latin America is proving to be a leading region on climate solutions.

So what does this mean for Mexico? By ratifying the agreement, Mexico's government officially has committed to meet the climate goals it proposed last March ahead of the December 2015 COP in Paris. Effectively, the "intended nationally determined contribution" (or INDC) that the government had presented is no longer "intended," but is rather now a formal goal, and the country (like all who ratify the Paris Agreement) needs to meet it.

Mexico's action is an important one - a demonstration of the country's continued presence as a climate leader on the world stage and of Latin America's continued leadership to combat climate change and its devastating impacts. Now that Mexico's goals are formal, the real work begins to make sure that the country meets those goals, and hopefully even surpasses them.