What is the significance of Israel’s support for COP29 - opinion

As we speak, Israel is fighting a brutal war on two fronts. Rockets are being fired at Haifa, Tel Aviv and other cities across the country. There are casualties, both civilian and military, on a daily basis. At such a time, many Israelis may wonder, why care about COP29 and climate change? However, climate change has a great effect upon the people of Israel as the intense summer heat this past summer demonstrated.

Hezbollah’s incessant rocket fire targeting Northern Israel since last year has burned over 230,000 dunams (57,000 acres) of land. According to the Israeli Agriculture Ministry, 5,435 acres of orchards, vines, and avocado plantations within 1.25 miles of the Lebanese border are not being farmed consistently and 370 acres of fruits and vines have been damaged by rocket related fires. In southern Israel along the Gaza border, crops such as potatoes, wheat, peanuts and tomatoes have sustained damage due to rockets, fires and the inability of farmers to work in their fields due to the Hamas threat.

While the Hezbollah and Hamas rockets and mortars themselves have caused significant damage to agricultural land and nature in the Jewish state, climate change has only exacerbated the problem. The conditions caused by climate change have worsened the environmental damage caused by Hezbollah and Hamas rockets, causing the fires that the rockets started to be more devastating than they would have been otherwise. For this reason, it is of great significance that President Isaac Herzog will be attending COP29 this year despite the threat of an imminent Iranian attack and the other issues that Israel faces in the midst of war.

According to the World Bank Climate Knowledge Portal, “The most crucial component of Israel’s climate is the rainfall. Changes in the annual amount of rainfall, including number of rain spells, seasonal distribution, intensity and timing, all have major impacts on the country’s water resources. Israel‘s vast range of ecosystems, from the humid Mediterranean coast to the arid desert hosts a range of climate vulnerabilities and challenges. As temperatures increase, conditions become drier and storms become stronger and critical resources will become more vulnerable. Climate change also imposes an economic cost. The cost of expected climate changes in the absence of any mitigation and/or adaptation actions, is estimated at 5% of the annual GDP, and is expected to grow by 1-5% by the end of the 21st century.”

Climate change will be a major economic burden for a country whose agricultural and tourism industry is already impacted by the war. It also threatens to make the conflict with the Palestinians and Lebanese worse, as water scarcity caused by climate change will exacerbate existing regional tensions, thus making this terrible war the new normal, leading to asymmetric conflict in the region for years into the future.

FOR THIS reason, the Netanyahu government has been doing everything in order to help Israel better adapt to climate change. Ahead of COP29, the Israeli Regional Cooperation Ministry has developed a regional cooperation program on climate change which includes cooperating with Azerbaijan, the host of COP29. In the framework of this program, a two-week professional seminar on climate change will be held in Israel with 25 leaders from both Israel and Azerbaijan, which will broaden the participants knowledge on sustainability and environmental protection. Participants from both countries will then create a virtual platform that will enhance education about climate change in both countries. Student exchange programs will then be created between Israel and Azerbaijan highlighting the importance of education about climate change.

Promoting education on climate change

Israel’s Education Ministry has been a world leader in promoting education about climate change. As the Israeli Regional Cooperation noted, “Since the 2022-2023 school year, the Education Ministry in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Ministry, has promoted an educational initiative on climate change aimed at developing students’ knowledge, values and skills regarding climate change, while strengthening their emotional and social resilience in the face of its impacts. The initiative seeks to motivate students to act and lead change in their communities.”

They added: “Science, technology, and geography curricula in elementary and middle schools, as well as various science subjects in high schools, have been updated to incorporate climate change content. The Education Ministry mandates teaching the subject across all science and technology classes, in eighth-grade geography and in the mandatory “Introduction to Science” unit in tenth grade, which includes biology, chemistry, physics, environmental sciences and earth sciences.”

This year, 20 Israeli climate tech companies will have a display pavilion at COP29. Together with Herzog’s attendance, Israel hopes to contribute to assisting the global struggle against climate change. Herzog is not the only high level figure to attend. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is also planning on being there. In fact, Armenian media outlets have suggested the possible attendance of Ararat Mirzoyan, Armenia’s foreign minister. If he were to attend, this would greatly assist the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Given this, Western leaders should do everything in their power to fight against climate change and to support the COP29 Conference hosted in Baku. We all should call upon Western leaders to stop criticizing the fact that this conference is taking place in Azerbaijan and to start focusing on the threats posed by global warming. Azerbaijan is an ally of both Israel and the United States, who sent troops to Afghanistan to help NATO after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Azerbaijan is a critical ally in the struggle against a nuclear Iran. In fact, aside from climate change, Herzog wants to go to Azerbaijan also in order to discuss the Iranian threat on Israel and Azerbaijan alike. A great percentage of Iranians are ethnic Azerbaijanis, many of whom wish to secede and form an independent South Azerbaijan. For this reason, fighting against the mullahs will be more effective if there is coordination with Azerbaijan.

Aside from helping the West in Afghanistan and with the Iranian threat, Azerbaijan has also been providing both Israel and Europe with energy security in the wake of the Ukraine war which placed many obstacles in the way of utilizing Russian gas and oil. For all of these reasons, the West should appreciate Azerbaijan. After all, at the end of the day, the average Iranian woman could only dream of enjoying the privileges that the women in Baku enjoy on a daily basis as a citizen of a country that respects women’s rights, secularism, religious tolerance, and multiculturalism. Therefore, let the West save its critique for the mullahs in Tehran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and other tyrants, who don’t have the West’s back.

The writer is a Middle East scholar and commentator on the region.