By Pita Ligaiula
Australia says the Pacific Pre-COP31 has provided a strong starting point for COP31 in Türkiye, with small island developing states’ priorities pushed higher on the climate agenda.
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the two-day meeting had allowed ministers to put forward ideas and proposals aimed at securing stronger outcomes at COP31.
“That has been an extraordinarily useful process,” Bowen said at the closing ceremony of Fiji’s hosting of the Pre-COP31.
He said Australia and Türkiye had deliberately designed the Pre-COP to provide the best possible launching pad for the climate summit in Antalya.
“I think, thanks to you and your contributions, we’ve been able to do that,” Bowen said.
Bowen said Australia also wanted to raise the issues facing small island developing states, particularly those in the Pacific, and give them greater prominence at COP31.
“We also wanted to lift the issues that small island developing states, best represented here in the Pacific, have been pursuing at COPs for many years, to lift those issues on the agenda and get them more prominence at COP,” he said.
He said the visit to Tuvalu, alongside a stakeholder programme involving more than 3,000 people and more than 100 events, had helped put the concerns of vulnerable island communities at the centre of the discussions.
Bowen said Pacific island states had contributed little to the climate crisis but were already facing its consequences.
“We think of those who’ve done so little to cause this crisis and we live with it so much every day, not in the future, today,” he said.
He highlighted rising sea levels, changes to fisheries and coastal erosion, as well as communities losing homes and even ancestral burial grounds.
“We’ve heard many stories, graveyards being washed away, houses being inundated much more regularly and people, young people with dreams, who are being questioned whether they can pursue their dreams in their country of their birth,” Bowen said.
He said COP31 would take place against a difficult global backdrop, including growing evidence that the world was overshooting the 1.5°C temperature goal, energy market uncertainty and the expected impacts of a strong El Niño.
“We will meet in Antalya in just a couple of weeks’ time in the context of a report showing us we need to do more because we are overshooting 1.5 degrees,” Bowen said.
He said the expected El Niño conditions would add pressure to countries already facing climate impacts.
“We know the impacts will be severe and they will amplify climate change and they will be a result of climate change,” he said.
Bowen also outlined how Australia and Türkiye planned to manage COP31, saying the presidency would operate openly and transparently.
“We don’t want any surprises in Antalya. We want you to know what we’re planning and thinking,” he said.
He said the presidency intended to pursue a presidency-led decision, while maintaining full consultation with parties.
“Presidency led, not presidency only, full consultation with parties,” Bowen said.
He acknowledged that reaching agreement at COP31 would not be easy, with disagreements expected among countries.
“There’ll be strong discussions. There’ll be many, many meetings in Antalya. There’ll be disagreements but they’ll be handled in a spirit of cooperation, good faith and goodwill,” he said.
Bowen said the negotiations ultimately had to deliver for people already experiencing climate impacts and for future generations.
“The people we’re working for, the people at home who are being impacted by climate change … and future generations who will be impacted even more by climate change unless we deal with mitigation and adaptation,” he said.
He said the Pacific Pre-COP had achieved its objective of preparing countries for COP31 and bringing the priorities of small island developing states to the forefront.
“This has been a pre-COP which has achieved the objective of giving us a launching pad for COP31, the best chance of a strong outcome of putting at the forefront the issues of small island developing states,” Bowen said.
He thanked Türkiye, Fiji and Tuvalu for their cooperation and hosting of the Pre-COP process and urged countries to carry the same spirit into Antalya.
“We will need it in Antalya,” he said.
Bowen said countries must leave COP31 able to demonstrate that they had strengthened multilateralism and taken meaningful action.
“So that we can walk away from COP31 and say we did what we were required to do, we made a step forward, we supported multilateralism and we acted in the best interests of the people we work for every day,” he said.
