Azernews.Az

Akbar Novruz

Read more

During the COP29 Presidency press conference, Kaveh Zahedi, Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environment at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), emphasized the critical role agriculture and food systems play in addressing climate change, Azernews reports.

Zahedi highlighted that the transformation of agriculture is essential to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. “Transforming agriculture and food systems is going to be critical if we are to achieve the Paris Agreement, whether it's on the side of adaptation and building resilience or indeed on the side of mitigation,” he said.

He also underscored the importance of the Baku Harmony Climate Initiative for Farmers, which was spotlighted during the event. “It really is an initiative about continuing the momentum on supporting and scaling up climate action through agriculture and food systems and setting in place a COP to COP mechanism,” Zahedi added. “So, it's not an initiative for one COP, but one that continues this momentum from COP to COP.”

Zahedi further stressed the need for increased climate finance directed toward agricultural solutions, saying, “Finance is a vital enabler and not enough climate finance is moving in the direction of solutions that only agriculture and food systems can provide, including at the farmer and community level.”

He concluded by pointing out the necessity of integrating agriculture into national climate action plans. “It is about building the momentum towards ensuring that countries fully incorporate the ambition on agriculture and food systems into their next generation of NDCs, the NDC 3.0, because only in that way will they be able to reach the ambition that is required for the Paris Agreement.”