Environment Desk, Oct 17 (EFE).- Latin America and the Caribbean are key players in the global effort against climate change and will play a significant part in the upcoming United Nations COP29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources minister Mukhtar Babayev said in an interview with EFE news agency.<\/p>
\u201cBillions of people are counting on us. Like so many places, Latin America and the Caribbean are suffering from the devastating effects of climate change. They are also at the forefront of shaping a greener future,\u201d he said.<\/p>
\u00a0The Azerbaijani minister added that Caribbean island states \u2013 who he said have been leading the calls for global action to address warming temperatures and are among the most at risk due to rising sea levels \u2013 will be \u201cat the center of COP29.\u201d<\/p>
Babayev, who will lead the COP29 climate summit in the Azerbaijani capital in November, also highlighted the important roles played by Colombia and Brazil in the fight against climate change.<\/p>
\u201cColombia is playing a vital role in hosting COP16 on biodiversity (which begins on Monday), and we are working closely with Brazil\u2019s COP30 team as part of the COP presidency\u2019s troika,\u201d Babayev said.<\/p>
The priority at the summit in Baku is to \u201cagree a new, ambitious climate finance goal,\u201d the Azerbaijani politician said.<\/p>
The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) that kicks off Monday in Cali is the main event preceding COP29 in Baku, which will run from November 11-22. EFE<\/p>
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