COP29 President, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mukhtar Babayev, remarked in an interview with EuroNews, “We must unite the efforts of all countries because only through consolidation and strong motivation from all participants can we achieve success. I believe that Baku’s primary role at COP29, as well as Azerbaijan’s, is to serve as a bridge between developing and developed countries, between the global South and North, East and West.” Experts add that another key goal of COP29 is to finally turn lofty ambitions and discussions into concrete actions.
It’s important to highlight one key point. Conversations about climate change, global warming, and related issues have been ongoing for years, even decades. However, the climate agenda has unfortunately often lacked seriousness and gravitas.
Summits have taken place, protocols like Kyoto and agreements like Paris have been signed, with discussions on emissions and the “greenhouse effect.” However, public attention has often focused on activists’ sensational stunts rather than the core issues. For example, in late September, amid preparations for COP29 in Baku, three “eco-activists” in London threw tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings at the National Gallery. Such “actions,” which seriously threaten world art masterpieces, have happened before. Then, of course, there is Greta Thunberg—then a 15-year-old schoolgirl brought to the UN podium with great fanfare. Many experts cautioned even then that such theatrical gestures might generate headline news and possibly aid fundraising for various climate NGOs. However, they often harm the credibility of the climate discussion itself, which desperately needs seriousness and weight.
This is precisely what Azerbaijan seeks to address today. Climate change is far more serious and threatening than it might appear to many. Above all, it is a universal threat, especially within human-modified landscapes.
Just before COP29, the global spotlight was on a tragedy in Valencia, Spain, where torrential rains and flooding claimed over 200 lives. In Baku, we have thankfully not faced disasters of that scale. Still, on October 22, during a torrential downpour, two people tragically drowned in the Sabunchu tunnel, which shocked Azerbaijan. There was significant discussion about Baku’s storm drainage system and the city’s unique topography. Baku is bowl-shaped, and during heavy rains, water naturally flows down from the city’s elevated areas. In light of this, it would be prudent to check which pumps were operational in the tunnel and which were not.
But there’s another crucial factor to remember. Meteorologists explained that during those days, Baku received not a month’s but almost a year’s worth of rainfall.
This radically changes the perspective. Even a flawless stormwater drainage system, maintained meticulously with pumps in tunnels and grates in underground walkways, has certain technical limits. These systems are designed based on expected volumes of rain per hour, day, week, and so on. The same goes for bridges, dams, and small reservoirs in rural areas; their specifications are based on historical river levels and past flood patterns.
But climate is changing—and rapidly. In just three days, a year’s worth of rain might pour down on a city, and a similar amount might flood the headwaters of a mountain river, swelling it to unprecedented levels. In a human-modified environment, climate change is not merely about shifts in butterfly habitats. These changes are life-threatening—in Azerbaijan, in Spain, in the Czech Republic, in Russia…
The most important point is that while repairing a dam or clearing storm drains can be handled by local authorities, addressing climate change demands collective effort. Earth’s climate is, for better or worse, a single system that doesn’t acknowledge political borders, NGO policies, democracy ratings, or other modern fads. The impacts of climate change are already affecting us, so specific measures to prevent such catastrophes are needed today—or, rather, were needed yesterday.
Nurani
Translated from minval.az
