At Baku climate summit, global food supply in question

Activists and experts present at the Baku climate summit warn of extreme weather conditions that mthreaten the global food supply ahead of the United Nations summit COP29 in November.

Speakers at the Baku Climate Action Week, which is preparing to host the summit, stressed the importance of ports as lifelines.

Hurricanes and rising sea levels disrupt the ability of ports to operate, interrupting the flow of goods from food to medical supplies, putting pressure on supply chains and hurting countries’ GDP.

THE researchers believe that 73 billion euros of global trade are threatened every year.

A non-profit ports organization is releasing a report at COP29 to show how some ports are coping with climate change, hoping to inspire other countries to prepare for the worst.

“There are 17,000 ports in the world and 30 million people work directly there. So it’s not just about imports and exports, people’s livelihoods depend on ports “, declared Darshana Godaliyaddedirector of the initiative “Resilience 4 Ports”.

How to delay or reduce climate change?

Another topic discussed at the summit was how technology could mitigate the effects of climate change and, in particular, how artificial intelligence could lead to climate innovation.

Google said its technology helped drivers avoid traffic jams, reducing carbon emissions.

At the November summit, theAzerbaijan will call for the creation of knowledge centers between communities to share information on the impact of climate change on watersheds.

Baku insists that this is not lip service, but real progress.

“ We will act. This involves the creation of a knowledge center, cooperation within this knowledge center, discussion on policies that would take into account the interests of all countries sharing the basin. The creation of data, information on this watershed “said Kamala Huseynli-Abishovawho works on the water issue as part of Azerbaijan’s presidency of COP29.

Move forward slowly, but surely

A Agricultural NGO who is on the COP29 advisory board said she understands that there is often question whether annual summits would lead to real improvements for the environment.

But she added that the pressure exerted by citizens and civil society has proven effective in the past, and that we must continue in this direction.

“ That’s a lot of talk, indeed, but all that talk leads to change on the ground. For example, two years ago, civil society, researchers (we have been talking about loss and damage here for 15 years… in Egypt), the fund for loss and damage was created. It took a while, but it exists now. What I would like to say is that progress may be slow, but it is happening during these COPs. So we have to be patient, but at the same time we have to push for faster changes », explained Aditi Mukherjidirector of the CGIAR platform on the impact of climate.

Organized under the aegis of the United Nations, COP29 will take place from November 11 to 22, 2024 in Baku.