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."
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
At least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, among the deadliest since a June ceasefire. Meanwhile, Qatar denied holding Iranian pilots. It said it had found the remains of one pilot after an airspace violation and had contacted Iran to coordinate a handover.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory have been mocked by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, who said the sea passage "cannot be seized by tweet."
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, triggering small tsunami waves and dozens of aftershocks, officials say.
A wildfire in Croatia driven by strong winds descended on the tourist town of Omis overnight, engulfing houses, forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate to safety and injuring dozens, fire brigade and health officials said on Friday.
A wildfire in Croatia driven by strong winds descended on the tourist town of Omis overnight, engulfing houses, forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate to safety and injuring dozens, fire brigade and health officials said on Friday.
Rhossi, a rare Kemp’s ridley sea turtle that washed up near death on a Welsh beach in 2023, has returned to Texas after more than two years of rehabilitation in the UK.
Glacier coverage in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul Basin has shrunk by 33.7 per cent over the past 70–90 years, according to an updated glacier inventory by Kyrgyzhydromet. The agency says the pace of glacier retreat has accelerated sharply in recent years.
Extreme heat and historically low river levels are forcing nuclear power plants across Southeast Europe to reduce production, increasing pressure on already stretched electricity supplies and prompting governments to call for lower consumption.
Flash floods in Gansu Province in China's northwest last week killed 25 people and injured 23 more, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, raising earlier death tolls.
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