This article was originally published at JAMNews on 22.01.2024.
The Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan Operating Company of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) was appointed today. The fact that a woman has become the Chairman has drawn attention. Last week, following international criticism, the country’s president changed the recently announced composition of the COP29 Organizing Committee. While the original composition consisted exclusively of men, the new one includes 12 women.
On January 22, Narmin Jarchalova was appointed Chairman of the Board of COP29 Azerbaijan Operating Company. She is the head of Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s projects on environmental protection and climate change.
Narmin Jarchalova received a bachelor’s degree from the Azerbaijan University of Languages, and in 2013 graduated from ADA University’s Master’s Program on Diplomacy and International Relations. This was followed by completion of the Public Leadership Credential program at Harvard Kennedy School and Master’s program in Public Administration at University College London (UCL), one of the most prestigious universities in the world, in 2021-2022.
Since 2013, she has worked in the International Relations Department of the Heydar Aliyev Center, as a project manager for environmental protection and climate change at the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and in various positions in the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 2023 she was the project manager of Azerbaijan’s pavilion at the COP28 exhibition held in the United Arab Emirates.
On January 19, President Ilham Aliyev changed the composition of the COP29 Organizing Committee. Twelve women were added to the Organizing Committee, which was formed from members of the government and consisted of 28 men.
According to Abzas Media, the new composition was determined against the background of international criticism. The first lineup, approved on January 13, did not include a single woman. The campaign group She’s Changing the Climate called the decision “regressive.” It was reported that 63 percent of the members of the organizing committee for the COP28 climate summit held last year in the United Arab Emirates were women.
The election of Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Mukhtar Babayev, who previously worked at the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) for 26 years, as president of COP29 this year, while the presence of the head of the country’s gas distribution network on the organizing committee also drew criticism in international media.
According to the BBC, the website Climatechangenews.com described the composition of Azerbaijan’s COP29 committee, and wrote that the main positions in the government and state organizations of Azerbaijan are held by men.
The UK-based Women’s Equality Party has also spoken out against the original exclusively male COP29 organizing committee.
“The world is on fire, our climate is in crisis, women are being disproportionately elected. What is the revolutionary idea behind the COP29 committee to save the planet? To keep women out of decision-making, of course!” – wrote the party on its X account.
Euronews writes that campaigners assessed the male-only representation in Azerbaijan’s COP29 organizing committee as “excluding women from decision-making.”
On December 7 last year, it was decided to hold the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP29 in 2024 in Azerbaijan. This is stated in the first statement issued jointly by the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan. The relevant provisions of the joint statement read:
” – Armenia withdraws its candidacy for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention (COP29) on Climate Change in support of Azerbaijan’s candidacy.
– Azerbaijan supports Armenia’s candidacy from the Eastern European Group for membership in the PRA Bureau”.
