Azerbaijan's Azercosmos Space Agency will hold the summit titled "Space challenges in the fight against climate change: summit of space leaders," AzVision.az reports.

According to Azercosmos, the summit will take place on November 16, during Science, Technology, and Innovation Day.

The summit will bring together leaders from 20 global space agencies, representatives from international organizations such as the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), the International Astronautical Federation, and the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as officials and employees from the private sector.

"The conceptual significance of this summit, considered a high-level meeting of space agencies, lies in advancing initiatives to combat climate change through the use of space technology and developing joint steps within the framework of the summit. As a result of the summit, it's planned to sign the document 'Pledge to Expand Climate Initiatives Based on Space' (Pledge), with the participation of 20 global space agencies.

This document, to be signed at the COP29 event in Baku, will continue the commitments made at the space agencies' meeting during COP28 and will foster global cooperation at future COP meetings, knowledge exchange between countries, as well as the search for decisive solutions for timely and effective mitigation of the negative impacts of climate change," the agency's statement reads.

Next week, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be kicking off in Azerbaijan, the decision of which was made at the plenary meeting of COP28 held in Dubai in December last year.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The abbreviation COP (Conference of Parties) means “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Germany's Berlin with its secretariat in Bonn.

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