BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 3. COP29 necessitates to enhance ambitions and boost actions, COP29 President Designate, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev said during an event "Role of higher education in climate change: Towards an Azerbaijan University Network on Climate Change (AUNCC)" at the ADA University today, Trend reports.
He asserts that world leaders will have to implement the Paris Agreement and the Global Climate Action Plan during COP29.
"Almost half of the world's children live in countries that are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Climate change impacts nearly 40 million children's access to education each year. However, the youth presentations at the COP conference highlighted that the UAE's consensus, which placed young people at the center of the climate agenda, had taken an important step.
To fulfill the promises of the Paris Agreement and provide climate solutions for future generations, we must enhance ambitions and boost actions, meaning that we need to review and strengthen overall climate goals and establish more ambitious parameters for national climate plans. This involves contributions from national governments, national adaptation plans, and clean transportation solutions. We must ensure the implementation of these initiatives and promote active climate action," he explained.
Furthermore, according to the official, a crucial element of this process will be enhancing cooperation and creating synergy among higher education institutions in Azerbaijan, which will help form a national scientific community ready to tackle climate challenges.
"We can help young people acquire the environmental skills necessary to create a sustainable future and provide deeper education on climate change to meet the ambitions of children and youth. According to a Rollback study, 60 percent of young people feel they are not getting enough information about climate change.
This underscores the need for more active integration of the climate agenda into the education system. It's time to take decisive steps to create a more sustainable world for our children and future generations," Babayev added.
This November, Azerbaijan will host COP29. This decision was made at the COP28 plenary meeting held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Baku will become the world's center, receiving about 70–80,000 foreign guests.
At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, the United Nations signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change as an agreement to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. COP—the Conference of the Parties—is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. There are 198 countries that are parties to the Convention. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the COP is held annually. The first COP event took place in March 1995 in Germany's Berlin, with its secretariat in Bonn.
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