Engagement activities Preparing for COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5 - June 12, 2024
In advance of COP29, to be hosted by Azerbaijan on November 11-21, 2024, preparatory events were arranged in Baku early June. Invited to contribute to the arrangements, IKED's representatives arranged a workshop on Science-Policy-Society interfaces, took part in bilateral meetings, and moderated an expert panel in a high-level conference organised by the Port of Baku. Partner contributions were made by the University of Geneva, the Global Forum, and GoNaturePositive!, an EU Horizon project aiming for advocacy of an economy that is compatible with nature conservation and regeneration. Below is a brief summary and reflections on some of the specific activities and associated considerations advanced through these days.
Science - Policy - Society Workshops
Back-to-back with the "Transition of the Caspian Sea Conference 2024" , a scientific conference addressing the complex and challenging issues confronting the wider Caspian Sea Basin, special worskhops were arranged with representatives of the COP29 presidency, ministries, universities, and also selected domestic as well as international experts invited for the occasion.
The set-up was devised for candid, constructive brainstorming on the interface between science, policy and society. In particular, the focus was placed on identifying a viable approach to arriving at meaningful initiatives suited for further preparation and possible adoption at COP29.
As part of these arrangements, IKED structured and moderated a workshop on the theme Bridging the Gap between Science, Policy, and Citizen Action for Sustainability. As part of the deliberations, three breakout discussions were arranged for focused, creative efforts pursued at group level to arrive at operational proposals in response to the following three, partly related, challenges: i) Ways forward to improve conditions for impact investment on terms conducive to trust and inclusion, conducive to support and engagement by the public; ii) Rethinking and reorganisation of public communication channels for the purpose of strengthening broad-based inclusion and public acceptance of the needs of achieving sustainability, and; iii) How technology can be better mobilised in support of novel innovative solutions to outstanding critical sustainability issues, as in the field of water and energy, as well as support the measurement, verification and validation of support for nature.
The three themes were thoroughly addressed in parallel group discussions. The outcomes and results of these were presented and discussed among all. Next they have been fed into follow-up processing of recommendations going forward to the COP-29 Presidency.
Reporting from group discussions on three substantive themes, moderated by Ingrid Andersson
The 1st Caspian Blue Horizons Workshop on the Eve of COP29
This conference was organised by the Port of Baku, the only certified green port in the Caspian Sea Region. It featured two days of sessions taking stock of outstanding issues and considering ways forward notably for industry and the private sector to contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as related major outstanding challenges to sustainability. IKED moderated a session taking stock of the status of the financial sector in this regard, challenges to food systems, opportunities emanating from Nature-based Solutions, and also citizen engagement and the role of NGOs. These presentations fed into an ensuing, wider brainstorming session which drew as well on the outcome of other preceding panels, and tested the ground for various key actors to contribute and collaborative to maturing concrete proposals suited to presentation and gaining support at COP29
Summarising Conclusions and Ways Forward
The outcomes of the deliberations and maturing of concrete proposals for actionable agendas playing into COP29 will be subjected to further processing, through linkages between the domestic actors, participants from other countries in the Caspian Sea region, and international participants. Innovative proposals put forward during the events arranged in Baku early June, will be further considered and advanced by the key players involving,
Initiatives of high relevance to inspiring and enabling improved cross-border collaboration on the sensitive issues of the Caspian Sea region form part of this context. Both with a view to this geographical context and more broadly, participants will follow up on further efforts to put in place an inspiring space suited to cross-sector interfaces for capacity building through enhanced linkages between education, entrepreneurship, and job creation drawing on local culture and nature regeneration.