Azerbaijan is scheduled to host the COP29 climate conference in November. While preparations are underway, Azerbaijani officials are meeting with partners and conducting “listening tours” to understand the problems global leaders, institutions and communities want to address. In addition to the focus on climate change financing, water issues are likely to top the agenda and Washington will be an important partner in the planning stages. An Azerbaijani delegation led by Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources and President of COP29, visited Washington DC in April. The delegation’s meeting included a visit by former US climate envoy John Kerry to the Azerbaijani embassy in the US capital. The Azerbaijani delegation also attended the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. At a March event hosted by Axios, John Podesta, senior adviser to the president (who succeeded Kerry) on international climate policy, said, “We need to build on momentum… especially at the global level to provide the finance needed for the transition in developing countries. “It helps.”
The full agenda for COP29 has not been released, but Baku outlined its vision for the summit. At the Bonn Climate Change Conference in mid-June, Babayev, COP29 president-designate, outlined five priority areas for the summit: human capital, agriculture, urban environment, energy storage and finance, and investment and trade. Babayev said Azerbaijan aims to “secure fair and ambitious new climate finance targets, finalize Article 6, strengthen global financial institutions, and ensure the private sector is committed to climate action.” He said procurement would be an important agenda item. As for specific challenges, water security is expected to be one of the focus areas of this event. Climate change, environmental degradation, increasing dependence on water-intensive industries, population growth, and tensions between countries will make access to water one of the factors that will determine cooperation or conflict in the 21st century. More important than gold.
A COP meeting in the Caucasus means environmental issues, including water-related issues affecting the Caucasus and Central Asia, may be at the forefront of discussions. Central Asia experienced a drought in the summer of 2021, and regional waters such as the Aral Sea and Caspian Sea are at risk of disappearing. “We are very much feeling the effects of climate change because water levels (in the Caspian Sea) are falling… We see (this) every day. To me, this is a sign of how fragile the environment around us is,” said Nigar Arpadarai, UN High-Level Champion on Climate Change at COP29. Neighboring Iran, known globally for its authoritarian regime, is similarly experiencing water shortages due to population growth, pollution, water mismanagement and the treatment of minorities as second-class citizens, a situation that will only worsen in the future.
Other parts of the world are similarly suffering from water shortages. On May 8, the United Nations Environment Program published an interview with Harald Egerer, UNEP Director General in Vienna. Egerer explained that the Carpathian region, a chain of mountain ranges across several central and eastern European countries, has been “getting hotter over the past 50 years” and “causing more frequent and intense heat waves, droughts, erratic rainfall and floods.” . Drought increases the risk of forest fires and pest outbreaks in the Carpathians.” Elsewhere in Europe, countries such as Italy and Spain continue to face drought. The European Union has accepted a controversial opinion that “puts on hold plans to strengthen the European Union’s resilience to droughts and floods,” explains Politico Europe.
In the Western Hemisphere, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico are also currently experiencing drought. Rain shortages are affecting energy production in many countries, so not only are there water shortages, but electricity rationing programs are also in place. It is therefore essential that COP 29 focuses on water issues. Anecdotally, Azerbaijan’s Caspian neighbor Kazakhstan will co-host with France the One Water Summit at the annual United Nations General Assembly this September. The fact that the summit is being held in Baku just two months before COP29 means that water will be widely discussed at this year’s high-level events. I hope that this meeting will end with a ‘blue agreement’ that deals with water.
On the other hand, some countries have too much water due to rising sea levels. Last May, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with the governor of Tuvalu, the prime minister of Tonga and the foreign minister of the Bahamas. Islands across the Pacific, Caribbean (and Maldives) are at risk of spread due to rising sea levels.
It is unclear whether nuclear energy will be a significant focus of COP29, but it will probably be discussed. Nuclear power is a valid alternative to the environmentally polluting energy industry, but it can also be problematic if the facilities are not well managed. Moreover, given today’s tense relationships between great powers, the geopolitics of nuclear energy must also be taken into account. In December 2023, Armenia and Russia signed an agreement to modernize Armenia’s Mechamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which will operate until 2036. This agreement is problematic because it leaves Armenia in Russia’s sphere of influence. Moreover, there have been reports for several years of concerns about radioactive waste from the plant that could affect nearby residential and agricultural lands.
Unfortunately, with an increasingly fragmented and violent world order, Azerbaijan’s COP29 Presidency faces the monumental task of persuading global leaders of countries and industries to put aside their differences and focus on environmental cooperation and protection, including issues of climate change financing and protection. I took charge of it. water problem. Given the current global geopolitical environment, support from Washington will be essential if Baku is to have any chance of achieving its nearly impossible goals.
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