BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 21. The high-level event on Forests for Climate, Nature, and People: Harnessing Climate Finance for Forests was held on the sidelines of the 29th UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP29), Trend reports.
The event, co-organized by the COP29 Presidency and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), also brought together officials from the Ministries of Environment of Brazil, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Japan, Suriname, the UK, as well as staff from the UN Environment Programme, the World Bank, the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, and the Asian Development Bank.
At the high-level meeting, relevant experts and officials discussed issues related to forest loss in the face of climate change, degradation of forest ecosystems, strengthening climate action and policies to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement by addressing existing forest-related challenges, utilizing additional climate finance for forest protection, including existing innovative financing mechanisms, strengthening global efforts to share information and knowledge management on best practices, and enhancing the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The event provided information on the initiative of next year's international event, “Synergy for Sustainable Forestry and Biodiversity: Dialogue of Cooperation for a Green World," initiated by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.
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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