Dragan Čomić: Mobilizing financial resources to support climate action among main tasks for COP29

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be a forum to discuss several key issues, including raising global ambition to combat climate change, strengthening efforts to adapt to its impacts and mobilizing financial resources to support developing countries, Bosnian expert, head of the department at the University of Banja Luka, Dragan Čomić, told Report.

COP 29 may also prioritize discussions on preserving and restoring ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and mangroves, as well as promoting sustainable land management practices, the expert said.

He noted that COP29 play a key role by providing a platform for countries around the world to discuss and make decisions on combating climate change:

"They (COP sessions - ed.) are a central point of global efforts to save our planet, setting goals for cutting pollution, find out how to help vulnerable communities, and figuring out how can we improve the current (rather negative) state largely caused by human activities and the modern methods of production and consumption," Čomić said.

He noted that that climate change has a negative impact on the economic flows of individual countries and globally.

"Most, if not all, sectors are experiencing negative environmental, social, and certainly economic consequences. Agriculture, water management, forestry, transportation, energy, and healthcare are just some of the sectors at risk. As an example in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we can highlight that the droughts in 2012 caused damage of over 825 million EUR, while the floods in 2014 caused around 2 billion EUR in damages. For the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, these are enormous losses. When crops fail, cities flood, forests are drying up or diseases spread, it costs countries big time and money. If we don't get a grip on climate change, it could push millions of people into poverty by wrecking their livelihoods and homes," he said.

The expert believes that every new COP, including COP29, should represent a step forward towards contributing to the establishment and implementation of key principles of international climate change action based on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

It's already clear that fully achieving the goals set by the Paris Agreement, aiming to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius, is challenging. Therefore, every new COP, including COP29, should represent a step forward towards contributing to the establishment and implementation of key principles of international climate change action based on the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities'," he said.