UNGA79 Azerbaijan Side event: Enabling Climate Action for Sustainable Future through COP29 Global Initiatives Statement

UNGA79 Azerbaijan Side event: Enabling Climate Action for Sustainable Future through COP29 Global Initiatives Statement (5 min)

by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General

24/09/2024

His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan,

His Excellency the COP29 President-Designate, the Minister of Ecology and Natural

Resources of Azerbaijan,

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

Good morning.

I am pleased to join you for today's event on how the COP29 Global Initiatives can enable climate action for a more sustainable future.

The evidence is clear. Agrifood systems are severely impacted by the climate crisis, negatively affecting food security and severely impacting the lives and livelihoods of rural communities.

An alarming 40 percent of the world's population is highly vulnerable to the climate crisis.

Extreme weather events are one of the main drivers of hunger - with more than 730 million people living in hunger, along with food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms.

Resilient agrifood systems and sustainable agricultural practices can offer solutions for the interlinked challenges of food, water, land and biodiversity.

This is one of the core messages of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, the FAO Strategy and Action Plan on Climate Change, and on Science and Innovation.

FAO welcomes the collaboration with the COP29 Presidency for the implementation of the "Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers".

As its first goal, the Baku Harmoniya Initiative aims to serve as a coordinator to improve coherence in the field, bringing together existing initiatives, coalitions and networks to share experiences, identify synergies and gaps.

FAO sees high value in establishing a COP-to-COP mechanism to act as a bridge ensuring coherence and continuity, ensuring integrated climate actions in the agrifood sector.

But current financing and investment are not sufficient for the transformation needed, and we must therefore make it more attractive for both the private and public sectors.

Development banks, at the national and global level, play a critical role in this regard.

To support the second goal of the Baku Harmoniya Initiative, FAO has intensified its dialogue with Multilateral Development Banks and agricultural Public Development Banks, with the aim of encouraging more collaboration among them and to scale-up their activities with farmers and local communities.

As a third goal, the Baku Harmoniya Initiative will seek to empower farmers, in particular women and youth, to help build climate-resilient agricultural communities.

In this regard, Baku Harmoniya Harmoniya will also contribute through relevant activities to build evidence and success stories for the 2026 International Year of Woman Farmers.

I am pleased that the Baku Harmoniya Initiative will be hosted at FAO as part of the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation Partnership - co-chaired by Azerbaijan and Egypt.

This reaffirms FAO's commitment to ensuring that agrifood systems not only adapt to climate change, but also contribute to productivity, resilience, sustainability, and development.

By continuing to work together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner, including by supporting these important global initiatives, we can transform our agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

For the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life - leaving no one behind, while protecting our planet, and securing a better, more sustainable future for all.

Thank you.