BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 13. As part of COP29 in Baku, Trend News Agency proudly presents COP for Hope, a special project offering an unparalleled platform to hear from world leaders and trailblazers in politics, economics, science, and ecology, all united by a shared commitment to addressing today’s pressing climate challenges.
The representative of the State Agricultural Insurance Fund of Azerbaijan Ali Ahmadov was our next interviewee.
Ahmadov told Trend that the risks of natural disasters worldwide have significantly escalated due to climate change.
"Our country wasn’t spared either," he said.
Ahmadov pointed out that from 1990 through 2022, the frequency of hailstorms in Azerbaijan had tripled, floods increased by 18 times, and the number of days with strong winds rose 12 times.
"This trend is also reflected in the payments. In 2021-2022, 92 percent of agricultural insurance claims and recorded incidents in Azerbaijan were related to natural events. Of these, 54 percent of payouts were for storms, 25 percent for hail, 13 percent for floods, and the remainder for other events.
In 2022-2023, the share of payments for natural phenomena rose to 94 percent. Overall, insurance payouts for natural disasters exceeded ten million manat. In the first nine months of this year alone, agricultural insurance payments totaling 3.8 million manat were made.
The goal of the agricultural insurance mechanism established in Azerbaijan and managed by the Agricultural Insurance Fund is to compensate for damages to the agricultural sector," he added.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) started in Baku on November 11. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 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 the parties decide otherwise, the COP is held annually. The first COP event took place in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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