Dear Rector Mirzayev,

Dear Professors and Teachers,

Dear Aziza,

Dear students,

I am very happy to be with you today, and I am thankful to the "Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers" National Research University to have the chance to speak and exchange with you today.

My topic is a very burning one – with no play on words – and one that is also close to your speciality: climate change, its consequences and, most importantly, the ways to mitigate and limit its impact.

In five days from now, the COP 27 will start in Sharm el Sheikh. COP stands for Conference of Parties. It is the supreme decision-making body of the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and it gathers annually world leaders, experts and civil society representatives to jointly address climate change and find solution so that we, as human kind, can continue to live on our Planet.

Climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to every human being. The situation is deteriorating much faster than we expected few years ago and we already see many concrete effects, both at global and at local level confirming that climate has already changed.

Impact of Climate change

I will not enter too much into detail of the changes, I am not an expert, but we all already witness, all around the globe, the accelerating path of environmental degradation and the negative spiral we are in. Global temperatures rose about 1.1°C from 1901 to 2020, but climate change refers to more than an increase in temperature. It also includes sea level rise, changes in weather patterns like drought and flooding, and much more. Things that we depend upon and value — water, energy, transportation, wildlife, agriculture, ecosystems, and human health — are experiencing the effects of a changing climate.

The latest scientific Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on ‘Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ highlight that climate change is already having a widespread impact on our world, putting lives and livelihoods at risk – especially for the most vulnerable.

Uzbekistan unfortunately will not be spared by this evolution. According to experts, your country faces increasing desertification, drought, and decrease of biodiversity.

We can already feel this in Uzbekistan. Of course, there is the Aral Sea catastrophe, which is the direct result of human mismanagement of water resources, worsened by climate change. I guess, as students in Irrigation, you are very familiar with this topic. But we also saw last year in Tashkent sand storms, which apparently never occurred before. We are also witnessing a growing air pollution in the capital. According to the World Bank, Uzbekistan is the country with the highest mortality rate due to outdoor air pollution, and Tashkent was, for several hours two weeks ago, the most polluted city in the world.

You might also realise that winters in Uzbekistan are less and less snowy. So climate change is already here, and has an impact in our daily lives. The situation is very serious, and according to this years UNEP gap report – latest announcement from the United Nations, the global temperature will rise up to 2.8° in 2100 compared to the beginning of the industrial era. That would completely change the face of our planet, of our ecosystems; of our natural environment and of the way we and our children will be able to live.

Now  - What to do? Global, EU and individual actions needed

There is extreme urgency to strengthen the global response to address the climate emergency due to its direct and existential threat to humanity, ecosystems and biodiversity sparing no country. We have to act now, strongly and jointly thanks to a global effort at all levels.

As a global challenge, climate change requires a global response. This was the purpose of the Paris Agreement – which had the objective of limiting the global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels, even below 1,5 degrees. It is again the purpose of the upcoming COP 27 in Egypt in Sharm el Sheikh. We have to raise our ambition, to continue and even strengthen the changes towards adaptation to the impact of climate change and mitigation of its consequences. The latest scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on ‘Mitigation of Climate Change’ highlights that, currently, neither global ambition nor implementation is sufficient to keep the 1.5°C objective within reach. We need immediate and deep reduction of greenhouse gases across all sectors. In every sector, there are options available that can at least halve emissions by 2030.

As a global actor, the European Union is determined to take its share in this process, which will be an uneasy one as is implies structural changes in our societies. Environmental protection and climate change are among the top priorities of the European Union. The EU is at the forefront of climate action and will continue to lead by example. It was the first major economy to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to put forward concrete implementing policies. With the Green deal, we have increased our ambition for 2030 , from – 40 to – 55 % compared to 1990 levels – this is about to be agreed upon in Brussels, showing that we can decouple emissions reductions from economic growth and that it can bring  benefits : new jobs jobs, energy sovereignty, energy savings, reduced health related costs etc . we have to go this way, as the more we wait, the more costly it becomes.

We believe that there is a chance to win the fight against climate only through

1. a strong commitment from every country in the world, including within the EU,
2. in-depth coordination between all the actors and
3. concrete actions at all levels to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The COVID-19 crisis has reminded us that international cooperation is needed to resolve collective challenges that do not respect national borders. To fight the pandemic, international partners and governments across the globe  joined the forces to collaborate on research, statistics and support to the citizens. The same  sense of urgency and cross-border cooperation also to the fight climate change is needed. The post-COVID economic recovery and the transition to a socially just, resilient and climate neutral economy can and should go hand in hand.

The EU is committed to promote and implement ambitious environment, climate and energy policies across the world. Through its ‘green deal diplomacy’ the EU aims at convincing and supporting partner countries to take on their share of promoting more sustainable development. In this regard, we are very happy that Uzbekistan joined the Global Methane Pledge this year. The pledge is an EU initiative, with other partner countries, and the first-ever Heads-of State global commitment to cut methane emissions at a level consistent with a 1.5°C within reach.

The EU has also accordingly set financial means for that. 30% of the new EU’s development assistance, which targets EU partner countries, including Uzbekistan, will be allocated towards climate objectives.

In Uzbekistan, the EU is financing many projects and programmes aiming at mitigating the consequences of environmental degradation and adapting the society towards a more sustainable, low-carbon and self-efficient economy. To give only one example, the EU is the biggest donor of the UN Multi-Partner Human Security Trust Fund for the Aral Sea Region in Uzbekistan. But we are also funding and providing technical assistance to many actions to support local communities facing the direct impact of climate change or to promote greener and ecological friendly agriculture production.

Fighting climate change is a challenge, but it is also, we believe, an opportunity. Via a low-carbon and/or greener pathway, we believe that we can build a society that is fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable. By opening new economic windows, this will also lead to job creation and local development, which is critical for Uzbekistan. The principle is that everyone benefits from this transformation process, and we are on this perfectly in line with the priorities of your President and the new Development Strategy 2021-2024.

As important as the actions done at global level and by the European Union are the concrete steps and actions done by each of us, by every individuals.

I would like here to show you a short video (in Uzbek) with some practical advices of what I and you could do in our daily life to fight against climate change. These are not necessary very difficult actions, but they all have a positive impact for the environment. And if all of us - our audience from about 90 people here today, the 35 million people in Uzbekistan, the 746 million people in Europe, or even better - the 7 billion people in the world manage to change our habit and follow these advices, we shall have a much brighter future for our children than the one we can nowadays imagine.

The future is in our hands, we can still save the planet and preserve it in a sustainable way. Your personal engagement in this regard is needed, both as future engineer working on the ground and as citizens of your country.

But enough talking from me, I would be glad to hear from you how you see these challenges, and what can be your personal action in it.

Katta raxmat! [Thank you!].