More than a decade later, Pacific climate advocates are still 'singing the same song'
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Negotiations are taking forever and the implementation of climate solutions is long overdue, Pacific climate advocates said, reiterating persistent calls for tangible actions at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference.
For the Pacific Political Champions on Climate, listening to COP31 talks in Antalya, Türkiye is like entering a time warp.
Pacific island countries, which have borne disproportionate impacts of a climate crisis, continue to make the case for keeping the 1.5°C limit within reach.
“1.5 degrees Celsius is the same song we have been singing since Paris. When we come to COP, we should not feel complacent that we are here,” said Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s climate change minister and Pacific Political Champion for mitigation.
Adopted by 195 countries on Dec. 12, 2015, the Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty, with an overarching goal “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
Pacific island states have since identified the region's priorities, which include securing accessible, grant-based climate finance, strengthening community resilience and advancing the ocean–climate nexus.
“We should be frustrated. This is a frustrating process where we come to tell the world that we are sinking,” Talia said.
At a roundtable at the Australian Pavilion, climate advocates urged the international community to conclude the prolonged negotiations and deliver action that matches the scale of the climate crisis facing the Pacific.
“The ocean dialogue has shown us multiple times how the ocean and climate change intersect with various issues, said Mona Ainu’u, Niue’s special envoy to the prime minister on climate change.
He stressed the need to fully integrate ocean considerations across COP31 negotiations and outcomes.
“Sea-level rise is impacting us, our food security is being threatened because the sea is warming, and we are experiencing coral bleaching and ocean acidification,” he added.
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The Pacific Political Climate Champions initiative was established in 2021 to elevate the region's priorities and strengthen political-level advocacy within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change process.
“Our champions embody the collective voice of the Blue Pacific,” said Baron Divavesi Waqa, secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum.
“What began at COP26 as an innovative Pacific initiative has evolved into a valuable mechanism for elevating Pacific priorities beyond the negotiating rooms and into the political spaces where critical decisions are shaped,” he added.
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The Pacific Resilience Facility, a Pacific-led and owned financing facility, was highlighted as a key regional mechanism to support communities responding to climate impacts.
The UN's annual climate summit is the largest gathering of leaders to assess progress in addressing climate change and, beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol, which established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The first UN Climate Change Conference was held in Berlin in 1995,
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