The 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31) will open tomorrow, Monday, in the city of Antalya in southern Türkiye. Hosted by Türkiye for the first time, the 12-day conference will bring together 196 countries and the European Union and continue through November 20. The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change announced that preparations at the conference site had been completed.
According to the ministry, the leaders of 102 countries and more than 300 ministers have so far confirmed their participation. The Leaders’ Summit will be held on November 11 and 12 in the Blue Zone, hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation will participate at the leaders’ level, alongside the United Nations, the UN General Assembly, the UN Development Programme, the European Commission, the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Energy Agency.
The heart of climate diplomacy
The conference site covers a total area of 1.1 million square metres, including 527,000 square metres for the Blue Zone. This is the official negotiating area, administered under the authority of the United Nations, where heads of state, ministers, national delegations, accredited observers and international organisations will shape global climate policy. Around 100,000 people, including official delegations, are expected to visit it.
The zone includes the Anatolia Hall for plenary sessions, the largest hall with a capacity of 1,794 seats, and the Mediterranean Hall, which seats 828. It also has two press-conference halls named after the mystic Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi and the poet Yunus Emre. The Peace Road, extending along the pond, connects the facilities and will serve as a meeting place for participants between sessions. The Zero Waste Foundation has also established a 10,000-square-metre museum inside the zone.
Water and food as “a matter of national security”
In an interview with TRT Haber, conference president and Turkish Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum said declining water resources and worsening drought caused by climate change were making food security an urgent issue. “Climate change is, in fact, also a matter of national security,” he said. He explained that his ministry was working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on sustainable agricultural practices and water and food security.
Meeting with conference volunteers, Kurum referred to drought in the Mediterranean basin and floods in other parts of the world. “Water is declining, agriculture is being affected, and when agriculture is affected, food prices rise,” he said. He added: “Borders on the map are different, but the sky, water and climate have no borders.” The first day of the conference, November 9, in the Green Zone will focus on food, agriculture and health.
In the video posted by Kurum, an elderly couple can be seen driving their tractor through the fields. The message links the climate issue to land, agriculture and daily life, alongside the slogan: “COP31 on everyone’s lips and on the world’s agenda.”
“The world is bigger than five”
Kurum said Türkiye would defend the principle of justice in climate diplomacy, expressed by President Erdoğan with the phrase “The world is bigger than five.” He said a system in which communities least responsible for the climate crisis bear its burden could not continue. He disclosed that he would hold a press conference with all presidents of the Conferences of the Parties to launch a “joint appeal,” which, in his words, “is happening for the first time in COP history.” He acknowledged that achieving the 1.5-degree-Celsius goal set out in the Paris Agreement “honestly looks difficult.”
For his part, Turkish Climate Change Authority President Halil Hasar said Türkiye had consulted throughout the year with all negotiating groups, “from the African Group to the Arab Group.” He noted that Türkiye is a member of the Group of 20 and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as a strategic partner of Africa, and that it is hosting the conference while Australia holds the presidency of the negotiations. On November 11, Zero Waste Day will see the launch of two leaders-level initiatives, one of them a high-level global dialogue on methane emissions from waste.
The film “Fragile Blue,” posted by the conference’s official account, traces the impact of rising sea temperatures on the endangered noble pen shell, Pinna nobilis, from Egypt’s Crocodile Lake to the Sea of Marmara. Oceans and seas are among the 10 items on the COP31 action agenda, with November 17 dedicated to the issue.
Photos: COP31 Türkiye, Anadolu. Video: Murat Kurum, COP31 Türkiye
