President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke at the Summit of World Leaders on Climate Action, which is taking place within the framework of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku (Azerbaijan).
In his speech, the President reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s commitment to the global climate agenda and stressed the importance of international cooperation in combating climate change. He reminded the forum participants of Kazakhstan’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
According to the President, access to predictable financing and modern technologies is vital to achieve this goal. As part of the New Collective Quantitative Climate Finance Target (NCQG), special attention should be paid to the regions most vulnerable to climate change, including landlocked developing countries.
President Tokayev noted that Central Asia, despite its small contribution to global emissions – only 1%, faces numerous climate risks. To increase the effectiveness of measures to respond to climate change, it is necessary to actively use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, satellite monitoring and other digital tools.
Kazakhstan, with 200 million hectares of agricultural land, is an ideal platform for the introduction of “carbon farming”, that is, agricultural production methods that reduce emissions and improve soil quality. President invited interested parties to explore the potential of Kazakhstan in this industry.
A significant part of the speech was devoted to the problem of global water resources.
“Climate change is already having a serious impact on the global water cycle. Natural disasters related to water account for more than 80% of all natural disasters. Kazakhstan has faced unprecedented floods this year,” Tokayev said.
To update the water agenda, Kazakhstan, in partnership with France, will hold One Water Summit in December 2024. The forum participants will discuss the problems of global water resources management.
President Tokayev expressed concern about the state of the Caspian and Aral Seas and called for international cooperation to solve these problems. He supported the initiative of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to create a group of experts from the Caspian states.
In conclusion of his speech, Tokayev stressed that Kazakhstan is firmly committed to multilateral efforts aimed at forming a fair, inclusive and transparent climate agenda, and also confirmed its readiness for further cooperation with international partners.///nCa, 13 November 2024