Pacific Pre-COP opens with fewer leaders than expected
The meeting before COP31 runs Oct. 5 to 8 in Tuvalu and Fiji. Vanuatu says political attendance is lower than hoped.
The Pre-COP, the preparatory meeting before the COP31 climate summit that Turkey will host in November, starts Monday, Oct. 5, in the Pacific. It will be held in Tuvalu, an island nation threatened by rising seas, for one day, and then in Fiji for several. It is the first time the region has hosted it.
According to Reuters, about 4 000 delegates are expected in Fiji and about 30 representatives in the leaders' segment, the first at a Pre-COP to include heads of state or government. Antigua and Barbuda, Cape Verde, Thailand, the Maldives and East Timor confirmed they will attend. Germany, Mexico and South Korea are sending ministers.
The turnout disappointed the hosts. Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's climate minister, said they "were hoping for more" and that the low attendance reflects how little attention the Pacific's greatest threat receives.
Albanese arrives with inflation at home
Anthony Albanese, Australia's prime minister, travels Monday. His country presides over the COP31 negotiations while Turkey holds the summit's presidency, an arrangement that followed Australia's failed bid to host.
At home, climate has lost ground to the cost of living. Australia's central bank raised interest rates for the fourth time this year and left them at their highest level since 2011, according to ABC News. Its governor, Michele Bullock, said that "inflation is too high."
The agenda in Fiji calls for a declaration touching three subjects: the 1.5 °C warming limit, ocean protection and climate finance. The final list of leaders and the text that is signed will be known from Monday.
