Looking ahead to COP31: ensuring Pacific and island voices are heard
Excerpt from islandsbusiness.com PACIFIC leaders and representatives of overseas countries and territories are rushing to ensure that their voices are not pushed to the margins again. Regional governments and organisations have emerged from COP30 in Belem, Brazil facing the reality that their voices remain largely unheard, their concerns unrecognized by larger, more powerful nations. The region has started to pivot from negotiation to delivery after COP30, fully aware of the loneliness they face on the frontline of rising seas and intensifying storms. They have long argued that smaller nations face disproportionate impacts from climate change yet remain excluded from key climate finance and decision-making channels. An analysis by the Green Overseas Programme shows that without deliberate action, the progress made at COP30 will fall short of producing real change for those most exposed to the climate crisis. Ahab Downer, Director of the Green Overseas Programme, stressed the need for systemic change.
