Heidi Kuhn walks Karabakh’s minefields, urging global action at COP29 to clear landmines, restore agriculture, and ensure safe, fertile lands for a sustainable future.
Heidi Kuhn, World Food Prize Laureate and Founder of Roots of Peace, joined Umud Mirzayev, President of the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF), in walking Karabakh’s minefields to spotlight the urgent need for landmine eradication.
Their initiative, "MINES TO VINES," envisions transforming dangerous, mined land into fertile vineyards, restoring Karabakh's agricultural legacy.
While global leaders meet at COP29 in Baku, just three hours from Karabakh’s minefields, the region remains burdened with 1.5 million hidden landmines, endangering lives and the environment. Since 2020, 382 Azerbaijanis have fallen victim to these deadly remnants of war.
"The COP29 theme, In Solidarity for a Green World, cannot be achieved without safe, arable land," said Kuhn.
"Landmines and conflict prevent sustainable farming, threatening efforts to feed a growing global population projected to reach 10 billion by 2050."
Festive events across Azerbaijan are bringing the spirit of Novruz to life, with the Gala State Historical and Ethnographic Reserve hosting its annual “Spring Fortress” celebration. Visitors are immersed in a historic setting, surrounded by colourful decorations and live performances.
A media briefing in Baku has outlined preparations for the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), scheduled to take place in Baku from 17 to 22 May 2026.
International security and climate change are top of the agenda as leaders and policymakers from around the world meet at the 13th Global Baku Forum in the Azerbaijani capital this week.
Organisers of the 13th Global Baku Forum outlined the agenda and key themes of the upcoming international gathering during a press conference in Baku ahead of the event, scheduled to take place from 12 to 14 March.
The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet were killed after it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, in an incident that closed the airport, authorities and U.S. media said.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned that American forces could target Iranian power plants if the strategic Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and Iran, in return, warned that any attack on its energy infrastructure would trigger strikes on regional facilities.
Trump says U.S. found “major points of agreement” with Iran and has paused strikes on Iranian power plants, but Tehran denies any direct talks or negotiations, contradicting U.S. claims - latest on Middle East conflict.
Iran has launched long-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles towards the joint U.S.-UK military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, in what Israeli officials said was a major escalation in the war.
Georgia bid farewell to Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II on Sunday (22 March). He was considered one of the most influential spiritual leaders in the country’s modern history.
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state has risen to 46, authorities said, with 21 people still reported missing. The storms triggered landslides and widespread flooding, displacing thousands across Juiz de Fora and Uba.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (12 February) announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks.
Tropical Cyclone Gezani has killed at least 31 people and left four others missing after tearing through eastern Madagascar, the government said on Wednesday, with the island nation’s second-largest city bearing the brunt of the destruction.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
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