Water will be key at UN climate talks: Dutch envoy

AMSTERDAM: Water -- coping with rising sea levels, floods and droughts -- will be a key issue at the forthcoming United Nations climate summit (COP28), the Dutch envoy to the negotiations said on Monday.

The focus on water at the crucial climate talks starting in Dubai on November 30 “is an explicit acknowledgment that the world is already having to deal with the consequences of climate change, Dutch special envoy Meike van Ginneken told AFP on the sidelines of a water technology conference in Amsterdam.

Tajikistan and The Netherlands -- a quarter of which lies below sea level -- have been appointed to steer negotiations on water at COP28. These negotiations will centre on “water risks and opportunities... from agriculture to disaster prevention”, according to the summit organisers.