BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18. A financial mechanism needs to be created to help small island states, said Tongan MP Paula Piveni Piukala at the session "Efforts to safeguard health and food security in the face of a changing climate" during the Parliamentary Meeting within the framework of COP29, jointly organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.
"We are victims of weather disasters caused by countries that produce fossil fuels for their own benefit. I believe they are not exhausted, they are suspiciously rich, but the indirect consequences of these actions are suffered by island nations. 166 islands out of 206 contribute less than 10 percent to total carbon emissions," he said.
According to him, the highest sea temperatures will be observed in 2024.
"You built your world by extracting fossil fuels and we have never been compensated. It is time to create a financial mechanism to help our countries that would take into account coordination with the countries that contribute 80% of emissions, not by law but on a voluntary basis," he said.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will run until November 22, opened at the Baku Olympic Stadium on November 11. It is the largest event organized by Azerbaijan to date, and the first time in the region that it is being held in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action – was held on November 12–13.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 chairmanship has launched 14 initiatives that include linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, harmony for climate resilience, clean hydrogen, methane reduction in organic waste, action on green digital technologies, and other topics.
In addition to being a top priority that creates the conditions for action, creating climate finance will also help fulfill the 1.5°C pledge by bringing everyone together.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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