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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.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected as “incorrect” the report by a Kuwaiti newspaper on recent contacts between Tehran and Washington and also condemned President Trump's threats of renewed attacks if Iran resumed nuclear enrichment.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maka Bochorishvili sought to reassure the public that there is “no danger” to Georgia’s status as the European Union’s revised visa rules include Georgia.
Dushanbe enters one of its busiest diplomatic weeks in recent times as it gears up to host the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heads of state and a Central Asia – Russia meeting. Both events are set to hold from 8 - 12 October in Tajikistan.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed a Croatian delegation led by Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, marking his first official visit to Azerbaijan.
A new stage of economic transformation is under way in Karakalpakstan, where authorities have announced 27 large-scale projects worth nearly $2 billion with an aim to boost growth in the region.
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