Food supply risk under the spotlight at Baku Climate Summit

Extreme weather is threatening the world's food supply, according to experts at Baku's climate summit ahead of COP29 in November.

Speakers at the Baku Climate Action Week (BCAW) emphasised the importance of ports as a lifeline. Around 80% of global trade volume is handled by ports, yet many are exposed to operational disruptions from extreme weather events, causing costly downtime.

Hurricanes and rising sea levels are disrupting the ability of ports to operate, stopping the flow of goods — from food to medical supplies — putting pressure on supply chains and harming countries' GDPs.

Researchers estimate that €73 billion of global trade is at risk every year.

A non-profit organisation focused on ports says it's publishing a report for COP29 climate summit in November to show how some ports deal with climate change, hoping to inspire other countries to prepare for the worst.

"There are 17, 000 ports around the world and 30 million individuals work directly within them, so it's not just imports and exports, people's livelihoods are dependent on ports," said Darshana Godaliyadde, director of the Resilience 4 Ports Initiative.

Another topic discussed at the summit was how technology could mitigate the impacts of climate change and especially how artificial intelligence would lead to climate innovation. 

Google said its technology has led drivers to avoid traffic, consequently decreasing carbon emissions.

During November's summit, Azerbaijan will be calling for knowledge hubs between communities to share information on how climate change is impacting water basins.

Baku insists it is not just talk but will lead to real progress. 

"This is action," said Kamala Huseynli-Abishova, who works on the water focal point for the COP29 Azerbaijan presidency. "The establishment of the knowledge hub, the cooperation in that knowledge hub, discussing the policies that would take into account the interests of all countries sharing the basin... Creating data, creating information on that water basin."

An agricultural NGO that is on the COP29 advisory board said it understood there were questions about whether the annual summits would lead to real improvements for the environment. 

The Climate Impact Platform (CGIAR), however, said pressure from citizens and civil society has shown to work over the years, as was seen two years ago with the breakthrough recorded in Egypt.

"In Egypt, the loss and damage fund came through," said Aditi Mukherji, director of the CGIAR. "It took time, but it is now there. So what I would want to say is that progress can be slow but progress does happen in these COPs. So we have to be patient, but at the same time we have to agitate for faster change."

The BCAW brought together key stakeholders from policy, and the private sector to build the foundations for a successful COP29 which will be held from 11-22 November.