BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. The World Bank (WB) will support the Baku Harmoniya initiative, said Shobha Shetty, Director of Global Agriculture and Food Practice at the World Bank, at the launch of the climate initiative for farmers as part of COP29, Trend reports.
"I congratulate the COP29 Presidency on the launch of the 'Baku Harmoniya' initiative, which will be a vital tool for knowledge exchange, attracting investments, and expanding opportunities for smallholder farmers. This initiative aligns perfectly with the World Bank's commitments to promoting sustainable agriculture, ensuring food security, and supporting rural development to create a world free from poverty and conducive to life," she said.
The Director emphasized that the WB, as a leading provider of financial resources for smallholder farmers and climate financing in the agri-food sector, will apply its knowledge and expertise to support the "Baku Harmoniya" initiative.
"We base our work on the sustainable transformation of the agri-food sector on three pillars: knowledge, finance, and partnerships. Since the signing of the Paris Agreement, the World Bank has increased its annual climate-focused investments in agriculture eightfold, reaching nearly $3 billion by the 2023 fiscal year.
In the past fiscal year, the share of financing dedicated to combating climate change accounted for 62 percent of total lending in agriculture and food sectors, significantly exceeding the 51 percent figure from the previous year. We are also working to double our commitments in agri-financing and agribusiness to $9 billion annually by 2030," she added.
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 Presidency 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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