The 31st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31), hosted by Türkiye for the first time, begins tomorrow at the Antalya COP31 Site. According to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, preparations have been completed for the 12-day summit, which will bring together the 196 parties to the convention and the European Union.
Leaders from 102 countries and more than 300 ministers have so far confirmed that they will attend the conference. The Leaders' Summit will be held on Nov. 11-12 in the Blue Zone, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The UN, the UN General Assembly, the UN Development Programme, the European Commission, the World Bank, the OECD, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the International Energy Agency will also attend the summit at leadership level. Applications for 160 pavilions and 90 delegation offices at the site have been approved.
Kurum: It will be a first in COP history
Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum, who will lead the COP31 presidency, said during a live broadcast on TRT Haber on Tuesday evening that he would appear before the press together with all COP presidents: "I will share with the whole world the point we have reached so far and the goals we want to achieve from now on. We will make a joint call. This is also very important. We can say that this is the first time something like this has happened in COP history."
Emphasizing that decisions taken at previous meetings had not been implemented, Kurum said that achieving the 1.5-degree target set by the Paris Agreement "honestly appears difficult." Kurum recalled that they had therefore defined COP31 as an "implementation COP" from the outset, adding: "The event in Antalya will end on Nov. 20, but when you leave Antalya, the whole world should be able to say: 'Yes, something changed in Antalya.'"
10 priorities on the Action Agenda
The 10 priorities of the COP31 Action Agenda are Zero Waste, Clean Energy Transition/Electrification, Food Security, Climate-Resilient Cities, the Climate Implementation Bridge, Green Industrialization, Youth and Education, Oceans and Seas, the Rio Synergy and Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems. Kurum said they were working in coordination with Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı on water management and noted that drought also threatened food security, saying: "Climate change is also, in fact, a national security issue."
Minister Kurum said they would share with the world, at an event attended by leaders on Nov. 11, the experience of completing 455,000 homes in 11 provinces within two years after the Feb. 6 earthquakes. These earthquake-resistant homes, which generate their own energy and were built according to the Zero Waste approach, will also be showcased to the world in the Green Zone.
Negotiations in the Blue Zone, implementation in the Green Zone
The summit will be held across a total area of 1.1 million square meters. In the 527,000-square-meter Blue Zone, under UN authority, heads of state, ministers and national delegations will conduct official negotiations; nearly 100,000 visitors are expected in the zone. The Blue Zone's largest plenary hall, with a capacity of 1,794, has been named "Anadolu." The 582,000-square-meter Green Zone is expected to receive 1.5 million visitors. More than 45,000 volunteers from 154 countries have also been accredited for COP31.
A different theme will take center stage in the Green Zone each day: Food, Agriculture and Health on Nov. 9; Energy and Transport on Nov. 10; Zero Waste on Nov. 11; Resilient Cities and the Built Environment on Nov. 12; and Finance and Trade on Nov. 13. The program will continue with the themes of oceans and nature on Nov. 17 and "İmece: Strengthening Implementation" on Nov. 19; final negotiations will be held in the Blue Zone on Nov. 20.
Two global Zero Waste initiatives on Nov. 11
According to Climate Change President Prof. Dr. Halil Hasar, the leaders-level Circularity Knowledge Sharing Network Initiative and the Global High-Level Dialogue Initiative on Methane Emissions from Waste will be announced on Zero Waste Day, Nov. 11. The goal is to halve the increase in municipal waste worldwide by 2035. The Zero Waste Foundation has established a 10,000-square-meter Zero Waste Museum in the Blue Zone; the villages of Solak, Demirciler and Ormana in Antalya will also be presented to domestic and international participants as examples of Zero Waste Villages.
Minister Kurum's video shows paintings and sculptures displayed at the summit site as part of the COPArt project. The entire COP31 Site will be used as an open-air and indoor art gallery under the theme "COPArt: Still Possible."
Drone support for summit security
Security measures were also increased ahead of the summit. The Antalya Provincial Police Department added a Uçbey VTOL unmanned aerial vehicle to its inventory for use during COP31. The department said the drone would contribute to monitoring large areas from the air and improving the security teams' control of the field.
The video shared by the Antalya Provincial Police Department shows Uçbey, which can take off and land vertically, being set up in the field, a police drone pilot preparing for flight and the vehicle flying over the Antalya countryside.
Cover: COP31 Türkiye. Photo: AA. Videos: Murat Kurum, Antalya Provincial Police Department (X)
