Currently, we focus on providing and promoting green education programs in schools and universities to better deliver climate concepts and priorities to the younger generation, said Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President and Representative of the President of Azerbaijan on Climate Issues, as he addressed the opening ceremony of the COP29 Climate Change Summer Camp held in Shamakhi.
“I think for all of us, especially in the last years, most of our activities with young generation, with NGOs, with society represented, with youth organizations, we are trying to organize here in Shamakhi, because it’s not so far from Baku. It’s only 120km. At the same time, it has beautiful nature, beautiful infrastructure, and at the same time, very huge hospitality from the local authorities, who also provided us with necessary facilities,” Babayev added.
“I think we will always remember Shamakhi as a very important place in our program for the next years. It’s a very good chance also to have some exchange of the ideas and opinions regarding climate discussions, climate education.
Because it is so important to all the world now to demonstrate how we can develop this, all this years for all these agendas for the future generation,” the COP President noted.
“We have a very successful program together with the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan and other international organizations to promote and provide better delivery of the climate ideas, climate concepts, climate priorities to the young generation. I would like to congratulate Leyla Hasanova, Chairperson of Non-Aligned Movement Youth Organization (NAMYO) and Youth Climate Champion for COP29. NAMYO already produced very good results, with all your activities and your team, bringing together 121 countries.”
“Nigar Arpadarai, Member of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP29, organized huge work all these years, especially the last two years together with us, to invite as much as possible society representatives, NGOs, private sector, state and non-government organizations to work together to build a good network for very open and honest discussions, to have the solutions, to prepare and implement the programs.
16,000 volunteers were involved in the COP29 events. Then, in the whole process, more than 4,000 participants, volunteers participated. And we have very good feedback, successful work of this young group people, the youth, and not only youth. The youngest was 16 years old, and the oldest, 70. I think it is a very good example of how the young generation, they have the intention to be more involved in these social programs and to be more active, to demonstrate their capacities, to demonstrate their wish to be part of this important process.
I especially would like to mention Uzbekistan. We have a forum in May this year organized by the minister environment and natural resources in Uzbekistan. The climate board invited a lot of speakers, a lot of experts from the world, and also Uzbekistan, EU, and Central Asian countries discussed the possibilities of cooperation in environmental and climate. Then in Kazakhstan, in Astana, then in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, then in Tajikistan, we have a huge forum in Tajikistan.
And next year, in Kazakhstan, a regional climate forum will take place. I think that it’s a good chance also to discuss how we can cooperate together to invite more interesting ideas, more interesting priorities, more interesting activities within this forum. I think Azerbaijan will take an active role in this forum. In the beginning of the year, we visited Tanzania. Also in Tanzania, we have the African Forum. And other countries, also in Nepal.
And I think that Shamakhi today is also the platform to demonstrate the results of your work, your activities, how we can do it more efficiently.
Azerbaijan and COP29, and our team, as of today, we are a chair in the climate agenda, in these climate discussions, until handover in Brazil this year, in November this year. Azerbaijan will continue this leadership in the climate discussions,” the COP29 President emphasized.