An environmental task force to help farmers around the world address critical climate challenges has been set up by the UAE-led Cop28 Presidency.
It is part of efforts to achieve the goals of the milestone declaration on sustainable agriculture, made during the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai last year.
The Cop28 Presidency on Monday said the technical group would help countries switch to more sustainable ways of farming and ensure resilient food systems are at the heart of their national climate action plans.
It is envisaged the group – known as the technical co-operation collaborative – will particularly assist developing and climate vulnerable countries in this transformation.
The announcement was made in Bonn, Germany, at the start of crucial climate talks.
“Cop28 delivered the strongest political signal to date on climate, food and agriculture,” said Adnan Amin, chief executive of Cop28.
Mr Amin said countries agreed there was “no path” to keeping the key 1.5°C climate target within reach “without addressing the interactions between food systems, agriculture and climate”.
“Countries must now make good on the promises made at Cop28 and develop climate plans which deliver action for food, families and future generations,” he said.
Global pledge
The Cop28 declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action has been endorsed by 159 countries, accounting for more than 80 per cent of agricultural-based gross domestic product, 70 per cent of the world’s farmers, and 80 per cent of emissions from agriculture.
It aims to place food and agriculture at the heart of the climate agenda and, crucially, protect the lives and livelihoods of farmers living on the front lines of the climate crisis. And it underlined the path to meeting the key 1.5ºC climate target needed to involve agriculture.
Warming emissions from agriculture account for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions with farming also contributing in places to land degradation.
The Cop28 Presidency said the launch of the group marked a “significant milestone” in advancing the declaration’s intention to adapt and transform agriculture and food systems to address climate change challenges and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement that first set out the 1.5ºC goal in 2015.
Plans for the technical group were first announced at Cop28 and countries are now being helped to update their climate action plans – known formally as nationally determined contributions – to include food systems.
The founding members of the technical group include the Cop28 Presidency, Italy, the US, the UK, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN and other key entities from around the globe.
Climate plans take shape
In the next few months, they will start to work on requests from countries to achieve their goals.
A review of progress will take place at Cop29 in Azerbaijan this November with the goal of achieving major progress by Cop30 in Brazil next year.
The move underlines efforts by the UAE Cop28 Presidency to keep the momentum since the summit. It has launched a major partnership with the next two hosts of the climate conference, Azerbaijan and Brazil.
The Cop presidencies troika aims to boost co-operation and ensure continuity between the hosts of the annual climate talks in what is being called “mission 1.5ºC”.
The Bonn Climate Change Conference, meanwhile got under way on Monday with the UN calling for “serious progress” in finance.
The crucial talks run from June 3 to June 13 and allow countries to prepare for Cop29.
Cop28 saw countries agree to “transition away” from fossil fuels in global energy systems in a historic decision dubbed the “UAE Consensus”.
Now, the question of how to fund this transition is expected to feature prominently at the next climate summit.
Simon Stiell, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said countries “cannot afford to stumble” during two weeks of talks in Bonn, Germany.
“We must make serious progress on finance, the great enabler of climate action,” Mr Stiell said his opening speech in Bonn.
“I urge you to move from zero-draft to real options for a new collective quantified goal on climate finance.
“We cannot afford to reach Baku with too much work still to do. So, please, make every hour here count.”
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
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The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
