COP31 Pacific Climate Priorities

Each year, countries that are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change gather for the Conference of the Parties, known as COP, to negotiate the global response to climate change.

The process has produced major international agreements, including the Paris Agreement at COP21 in 2015, under which countries committed to holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

This November, the world's nations will gather in Türkiye for COP31, with Australia serving as President of Negotiations under the COP31 Türkiye-Australia partnership.

For Pacific Island countries, the talks are about more than international agreements. Climate change is already affecting communities across the region, with rising sea levels threatening homes and infrastructure, and increasing pressure on food and water security.

Three Pacific Climate Envoys have been appointed to take the region's priorities to COP31, focusing on keeping the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach, improving access to climate finance and putting the ocean at the centre of global climate action.

At COP31, Pacific Envoy for Oceania Ms. Kristina Eonemto Stege, from the Marshall Islands, will lead regional efforts to keep that goal within reach.

"The only way that we were going to achieve this is by ending the dependence that we currently have on fossil fuels that's causing the present crisis."

The 1.5°C target is increasingly under pressure, with some arguing it is unrealistic or too difficult to achieve.

But Ms. Stege rejects that view.

"The science tells us that the pathways are there. We do have the technology; we do have the resources. What we lack is the political will."

For Ms. Stege, exceeding 1.5°C would not mean the world should abandon the target.

"We also have to remember that every fraction of a degree counts. And so, breaching the 1.5 limit, does not mean we should therefore abandon that limit because we also know from the science that we can come back down."

But keeping temperatures within 1.5°C is only one of the Pacific's priorities at COP31.

Papua New Guinea is the home of Mr. Ruel Yamuna - the Pacific COP31 Envoy for Access to Climate Finance.

"Ultimately my job is to help ensure that climate finance works better for the Pacific."

Mr. Yamuna says the focus cannot simply be on announcing new financial commitments. But on ensuring climate finance reaches communities and is delivered in a way that works for Pacific countries.

"Another challenge is ensuring that adaptation receives the same level of attention as mitigation. For the Pacific, adaptation is not optional. It is an existential necessity."

Mr. Yamuna also wants greater support for Pacific-led climate solutions and initiatives.

"That collaborative approach is at the heart of the COP31 Pacific partnership and the role envisioned for the Pacific and Voice."

The third Pacific Envoy will focus on an issue that is fundamental to the region's identity and survival: the ocean.

Fiji's Hon. Inia B Seruiratu is the Pacific Envoy for the Ocean. He says the Pacific's relationship with the ocean gives the region a unique authority in global discussions about ocean health.

"The Pacific are global ocean leaders because it defines us. In terms of the climate solution, there cannot be a successful climate solution without oceans."

Oceans and marine ecosystems play an important role in regulating the climate, but they are increasingly under pressure.

For Pacific countries, the impacts of climate change are already visible in their coastal communities.

"Sea level rise is threatening us in so many ways, threatening our communities, threatening our infrastructure, our fresh water supplies, food security. The long-term effect is habitability of entire nations. In Fiji, we are relocating coastal communities, and this comes with a cost."

The impacts also raise questions about displacement and migration.

The Falepili Union treaty provides selected people from Tuvalu with a pathway to live in Australia, but Mr. Seruiratu says the broader issue is what climate change could mean for the future of Pacific Island countries.

"The issue of internal displacement and forced migration is so important. It threatens the lives and livelihoods, including statehood of small Pacific Island countries."

The Pacific will host pre-COP31 meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu, before the main negotiations take place in Antalya, Türkiye.

The three Envoys will use that platform to push for stronger climate action, better access to finance, and greater recognition of the Pacific's role in protecting the ocean.

For the Pacific, COP31 is not simply another international meeting. The region is already living with the consequences of a changing climate. The Envoys want the global response to reflect that reality.