COP28 Presidency is focused on achieving balanced deal in talks

Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General and Special Representative, asserted that the COP28 Presidency is focused on achieving a balanced package in the negotiations, noting that they hosted a stocktaking plenary to outline progress made at the technical level and hear feedback on building areas of convergence.

During a press conference held on Sunday in the Blue Zone of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), as part of the Food, Agriculture and Water Day, Al Suwaidi said, “Food systems are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change… and COP28 is proud to be elevating them to the highest level of discussions.”

He added that the COP28 Presidency is driving “momentum towards the objectives of the historic COP28 UAE Declaration on Agriculture, Food Systems and Climate Action, which was endorsed by 134 world leaders, representing 480 million farmers and 75 percent of global food production during the World Climate Action Summit last week”.

“We have heard strong messages from developing countries and as a result are asking parties to propose consensus solutions on the global goal on adaptation and further options on finance in the Global Stocktake,” he stated.

“For over 700 million people across the world, hunger is a daily reality, and a further 3 billion people can’t afford to eat a nutritious diet. Quite simply, these are the symptoms of a broken food system, one that we want to begin to fix here in Dubai.

“During the World Climate Action Summit, we saw the global community mobilise $2.5 billion to support the food-climate agenda. And the UAE and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a $200 million partnership for Food Systems, Agriculture Innovation and Climate Action.”

Al Suwaidi affirmed that “COP28 signals a turning point, embedding sustainable agriculture and food systems as critical components in both dealing with climate change and building food systems fit for the future”.

Climate course correction: James Murombedzi, Senior Climate Governance Expert at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said that the 28th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) is of particular importance as it marks the first time that the Paris Agreement is being reviewed through the Global Stocktake.

In a statement to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of COP28, he noted that the first technical report of the Global Stocktake was published in September, which indicated that the world is not on track to achieve many of the Paris Agreement goals.

“We at the African Climate Policy Centre believe that the role of COP28 not only goes beyond reviewing global climate performance, but also solidifies the efforts aimed at climate course correction,” he added.

Murombedzi hailed the operationalising of the Loss and Damage Fund as a “very strong start”, highlighting the positive and promising development regarding unifying global efforts to effectively address climate issues.

He pointed out that the UNECA expects that there will be sufficient financing to build the resilience of African economies to the impacts of climate change.

Turkey praises UAE: Ebubekir Gizligider, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey, said that 28th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) addressed a number of the most prominent global issues in the fields of environment, climate change, and water, achieving many fruitful results since its launch.

In a statement to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of COP28, he commended the UAE’s successful organisation of the climate conference, which reaffirms its stature as one of the most important countries that can organise such major conferences.

Regarding the initiatives that Turkey is undertaking to address climate change and the efficient use of resource, and renewable energy, the Turkish official said that his country has begun to review and change the laws and regulations related to agriculture, and to operationalise agricultural planning processes and clarify methods of choosing appropriate crops and using soil and resources efficiently.

He pointed out that Turkey is implementing many initiatives to improve water consumption efficiency, noting that it has begun to use artificial intelligence to achieve efficiency in irrigation.

On his country’s renewable energy projects, Gizligider said that Turkey has launched many projects and initiatives in this area, especially those related to solar energy, and has achieved a rate of over 42 percent in generating its energy from renewable sources, with the aim of raising this rate to about 80 percent within 10 years.

 COP28 success: Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, January Yusuf Makamba, said that the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) is one of the most successful conferences of the parties he has attended over the past years. He added that the COP28 Presidency succeeded in bringing all countries together at one table to agree on the topics that will be discussed, and there was a consensus on the agenda.

“I regularly represent my country in COP conferences, and this is one of the most successful conferences that I have attended over the past years,” Makamba said in statements to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of the activities of COP28.