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COP29: How climate stressors are impacting mental health in Azerbaijan, and what we can do about it
Written by Dr Alessandro Massazza , our policy & advocacy advisor Environment & Climate Change.
Narmin lives in a remote area of northern Azerbaijan which has been affected by floods and droughts, with profound consequences on the community’s livelihoods, mental health, and psychosocial wellbeing. Photo credit: Elshan Baba
On the 11th of November, the 29th session of the Conference of Parties (COP29) will start in Baku, Azerbaijan.
One of the key topics to be discussed concerns the agreement of a new climate financing goal, the so-called New Collective Quantified Goal (NCGQ), which aims to equip developing countries with the adequate finance to engage in climate action.
As discussions take place among negotiators in Baku, many areas of Azerbaijan are already experiencing the consequences of climate change from more frequent floods to more intense droughts. The livelihood of farmers and herders in the mountainous region of northern Azerbaijan has been profoundly affected, with negative impacts on their mental health. We have collected various case studies detailing how climate stressors are negatively impacting mental health in the region which can be accessed below.
To prevent further negative impacts of climate-related stressors on the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of populations in Azerbaijan and across the world, at COP29 we are calling for:
- People that have been exposed to extreme weather events such as floods and droughts to have access to appropriate mental health and psychosocial support.
- Mental health to be meaningfully integrated across discussions on climate and health at COP29 throughout mitigation, adaptation, just transition, and loss and damage considerations.
- Ambitious targets for accessible, grant-based, and flexible finance based on the common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) principle to be agreed as part of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), as mental health cannot be safeguarded if climate action is not appropriately financed.
- Mental health to be explicitly and meaningfully integrated in the implementation of the forthcoming COP29 Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) Declaration for Resilient and Healthy Cities, to be launched at the high-level meeting on Climate and Urbanisation.
- Attention to be paid to the mental health impacts on farming communities as part of the Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers.
- Mental health to be meaningfully integrated throughout Human Development Day and connected initiatives such as the Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience and the Baku COP Presidency Continuity Coalition for Climate and Health with action-oriented and tangible outcomes.
- Adaptation indicators to be adopted at COP30 for the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience to track information which is vital for both physical and mental health.
United for Global Mental Health, together with its partners, will push for these ambitious outcomes at COP29 and continue working to ensure mental health is integrated across actions to respond to climate and environmental threats throughout 2025. This will be particularly important as, ahead of COP30 in Brazil, countries will submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which represent countries’ climate pledges to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. You can follow updates from COP29 and our work at this intersection on our LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter) channels.