On Friday 26 September, during the New York Climate Week, ecbi held a meeting in the Permanent Mission of Tuvalu with representatives from Pacific Islands and Australia to discuss the ideas put forward in Quo Vadis COP.31? (see below) The meeting was organised by Professor Elisabeth Holland and convened by H.E. Amb. Tapugao Falefou, Permanent Representative of Tuvalu to the United Nations in New York. Following the New York meeting, Amb. Falefou travelled to Fiji and introduced the idea to the Prime Minister of Fiji, H.E. Sitiveni Rabuka CF OBE MSD, who expressed that he would be happy to volunteer Fiji to host the COP31 sessions of the Governing and Subsidiary Bodies under an Australian COP Presidency.

Photo (left to right): Amb.-at-Large Gene Leon (Saint Lucia), Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (Fiji), H.E Amb. Tapugao Falefou (Tuvalu)

Quo Vadis COP.31?
The statistical analysis in the recent 2024 ecbi Quo Vadis COP? Update Report illustrates that if the Negotiations are removed from the Summits and Expos, their ‘stand-alone’ size is predicted to reduce attendance to below 5000 participants. Thus, Negotiations could then be hosted by many more countries, including SIDS

Regarding COP31, Australia, for example, could offer to take on the COP Presidency in collaboration with Pacific Island Forum (PIF) member countries, and share hosting the COP segments between them. This would help to overcome the exclusion problem as some PIF members (e.g. Fiji) could host stand-alone Negotiations. In demonstrating that stand-alone Negotiations could indeed be hosted by a SIDS, such a collaborative COP31 could encourage small and vulnerable countries to put themselves forward to host and/or preside over future COPs.