Chinese villagers hit by worst floods in generations say they had no warning
The residents of Pingtou, a small village in China's southern Guangdong province, are grappling with the worst floods in living memory. While the regi...
Azerbaijan is calling for closer regional cooperation with Central Asian neighbors to confront the escalating climate crisis in the Caspian Sea, said Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s presidential climate envoy and COP29 President, in an interview with The Times of Central Asia.
Babayev stressed that falling water levels in the Caspian Sea, now at their lowest point since the 19th century, represent a growing threat to biodiversity, infrastructure, and economic stability in the region. He pointed to shared environmental pressures in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, including water scarcity and desertification, which are being worsened by climate change and declining river flows.
“The drying of the Caspian Sea is one of the central challenges,” Babayev said. “At the recent Nevsky International Environmental Congress, Azerbaijan proposed a summit to address this crisis.”
Technology-Driven Solutions and AI Integration
Highlighting the role of innovation, Babayev said Azerbaijan has incorporated artificial intelligence into its national climate programs to improve forecasting and scenario modeling. He called for joint scientific capacity-building and regional data-sharing as crucial first steps toward a coordinated environmental strategy.
“Artificial intelligence can improve forecasting and scenario modeling,” Babayev noted. “Regional actions have global implications, and the Caspian experience could shape future international climate policies.”
Call for Political Unity and River Restoration
Babayev identified the Kura, Ural, Terek, Samur, and Volga Rivers as essential lifelines for the Caspian ecosystem, warning that their reduced flow has exacerbated ecological decline. He emphasized that the climate crisis is particularly acute in Kazakhstan’s Atyrau and Aktau regions, where agriculture, marine energy, and port operations are increasingly affected.
He cautioned that, in the absence of political cooperation, water scarcity could trigger regional competition, underscoring the need for a unified political approach among Caspian littoral states to prevent tensions and coordinate environmental restoration.
“The Aral Sea offers a stark precedent; its desiccation triggered not only environmental degradation but also social upheaval,” he said. “Our focus now must be on mitigation and adaptation.”
Toward a Caspian Climate Summit
As president of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) to be held in Baku, Babayev’s statements reflect Azerbaijan’s broader ambition to lead regional climate diplomacy. The proposed Caspian Summit would bring together states most directly affected by the crisis to agree on actionable measures to preserve one of the world’s largest inland bodies of water.
With rising climate pressures, Azerbaijan’s push for regional unity may become a central theme of COP29, bridging local challenges with the global climate agenda.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send an upgraded ‘version 3.0’ free-trade agreement to their heads of government for approval in October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday after regional talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
Chinese automaker Chery has denied an industry-ministry audit that disqualified more than $53 million in state incentives for thousands of its electric and hybrid vehicles, insisting it followed official guidance and committed no fraud.
The peace agreement to be signed by Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday will be accompanied by bilateral deals on energy, technology, trade, infrastructure, border security and economic cooperation, the White House said.
Russia’s aircraft industry has produced only one of 15 scheduled commercial jets this year, data shows, as sanctions, supply chain gaps and rising interest rates hinder domestic aviation ambitions.
President Donald Trump said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will join him at the White House on Friday for what he called an “Historic Peace Summit,” aimed at formally ending years of conflict.
The U.S. says it is too early to discuss details of any documents that may emerge from an upcoming Azerbaijan-U.S.-Armenia meeting.
On 7 August, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan met in Washington with Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy of the U.S. President. The two leaders witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between SOCAR and ExxonMobil.
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