BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. Baku Harmoniya initiative poses an important addition to the FAST (Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation) partnership, Azerbaijan's Minister of Agriculture Majnun Mammadov said at the COP29 FAST Partnership Ministerial Meeting today, Trend reports.
According to him, FAST is an important platform aimed at addressing urgent agricultural challenges through mobilizing financial resources to support small farmers and rural communities, who are most vulnerable to climate change.
"FAST helps us to create a holistic approach to ensure that climate solutions in agri-food systems are not only effective but also inclusive. Today, we proudly presented the Baku Climate Initiative for Farmers – Baku Harmoniya – at COP29, showcasing our commitment to addressing climate challenges and enhancing the resilience of agricultural communities," Mammadov explained.
The minister emphasized that the above initiative aims to create a new path for collaboration that promotes the alignment of existing initiatives.
"We view the Baku Harmoniya initiative as a key complement to the FAST partnership, a unified platform that makes climate finance more accessible and effective in enhancing the resilience of rural communities," he pointed out.
According to him, during each COP, parties build upon previous commitments and review the experiences of past initiatives.
"'Baku Harmoniya will become a specialized platform for cooperation, ensuring not only coexistence but also coordinated action on climate initiatives in agri-food financing to achieve maximum impact and avoid duplication," he 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 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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