At the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29), which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, Meeting of Waters (MoW) collaborated with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at the Science for Climate Action Pavillion, bringing a cultural and philosophical dimension to the global water conversation. While WMO led the scientific and policy efforts in advancing water governance, climate resilience, and hydrological data systems, MoW contributed by reframing water as more than a resource—recognizing its cultural, spiritual, and existential significance.
This collaboration highlighted the need for a holistic approach to water stewardship, one that integrates scientific expertise with the deeper human connection to water. Through dialogue, artistic interventions, and participatory experiences, we explored how bridging science, policy, and culture can foster a more profound, ethical, and sustainable approach to water management worldwide. By working alongside WMO, MoW seeks to complement data-driven decision-making with a renewed cultural and emotional consciousness, ensuring that water is not just protected by policies but also valued as a living force essential to both human and planetary well-being.
In collaboration with WMO, MoW addressed the Caspian Sea crisis through an artistic intervention to a local and global audience. As the world’s largest inland saltwater lake, the Caspian is suffering from industrial pollution, oil extraction, and ecosystem degradation—a stark reminder of how human activity shapes the fate of water bodies.
The pray-formance began with a Christian prayer led by Charlotte Qin, calling for healing and renewal of the Caspian Sea. This was followed by a three-part video installation, offering a layered perspective on the region’s environmental transformation and exploitation. The first sequence transported the audience to Qizilgum Beach, on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea in Baku at sunset, where the vast, shifting waters meet the land—a reminder of both nature’s resilience and vulnerability. The second sequence shifted focus to Baku’s oil fields, located just 10 kilometers from the Olympic Stadium, where COP29 was hosted—a stark juxtaposition of global climate negotiations and the very industry driving ecological degradation. Finally, the third sequence presented a MODIS Terra satellite timelapse of the Absheron Peninsula from 2006 to 2022, revealing the slow but relentless transformation of the Caspian coastline, shaped by urbanization, industrial expansion, and climate-induced changes.
This visual storytelling set the stage for a 20-minute live improvisation by pianist Miklós Veszprémi, whose music guided the audience into an immersive reflection on the sea’s beauty, loss, and uncertain future. As the music unfolded, Charlotte painted the Caspian, using color as a language of truth and transformation—blue for purity, black for the oil that stains its waters, and gold as a plea for divine intervention. This act of live painting embodied the tension between destruction and redemption, echoing the urgent need for policy, science, and human conscience to work in unison, reinforcing MoW’s mission to restore not just water, but humanity’s relationship with it.
Action should be informed by science, but moved by faith.
Prof. Celeste Saulo
Secretary-General of WMO
