The voice of the Republic of Marshall Islands echoed loud and clear throughout Plenary Anadolu at the Antalya Exhibition Centre on Wednesday where the atoll nation’s President, Hilda Heine, delivered a very strong message to world leaders.
“We are told there is no money [to address climate change],” she said. “But as the spending on war grows, the greatest security threat we face remains underfunded. I appeal to you, find money for life, not death.”
Heine was the first Pacific Leader to take the floor during the first part of the High-Level Segment for Heads of States and Government at COP31 in Türkiye.
She is amongst more than a hundred world leaders in Antalya engaging in what has been billed as an “implementation COP,” guided by the principles of “dialogue,” “consensus,” and “action.”
At the Leaders Plenary, the message from the Marshall Islands was succinct.
“Replenish the Climate Funds, triple adaptation finance to at least 120 billion per year by 2035, fill the Loss and Damage Fund and make it possible for small island developing states like mine to actually access that finance,” said President Heine.
“Cut the red tape, cut the time it takes to get the money.”
More than 80,000 delegates and officials are expected to attend COP31.
But the gathering in Antalya follows revelation by the UN Environment Programme, in its Limiting Overshoot Report, that under all plausible emissions trajectories, the world will surpass the 1.5 °C target agreed at COP21 in Paris.
The report is the first UN report to state explicitly that overshoot is now inevitable. It also lays out how to bring temperatures back below the 1.5 °C target this century.
“It’s time to wake up,” President Heine said. “Our response to the threat of the Overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over.”
Drawing on her experiences from the Marshall Islands, the President said she has witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of climate change.
“Overshoot means waves eating away our shores, flooding that destroys towns, schools, hospitals, it destroys our land and ocean,” she said.
We are watching ecosystems die, she added, telling COP31 she has seen this with corals in her island, which are critical to the livelihood of her people.
“The Overshoot must be kept as short and small as possible and be rapidly reversed.”
The President of the Marshall Islands is amongst hundreds of Pacific delegates who have made long trip from their homes to Türkiye to fight for the survival of their communities who have been unfairly placed at the forefront of climate impacts.
In light of recent developments where science in relation to climate change, and the Pacific’s core message to keep 1.5 to stay alive, has increasingly been questioned in negotiations, President Heine said COP31 must protect the integrity of the science.
“We have fallen short of the emission reductions needed to stay under 1.5. We must rewrite the future that we read in the science,” she said.
“We have seen efforts to undermine the IPCC and to block its reports informing the next global stocktake. Our Pacific scientists tell us the work can and should be completed on time.” Science, she added, also tells us that “fossil fuels are the root cause of the overshoot” and “delayed action.”
On COP31’s focus on electrification, the Republic of Marshall Islands believes that while this is important, it must be linked to renewable energy generation to keep 1.5 within reach.
“Reducing emissions also means protecting carbon sinks, the Ocean is our lifeline and the single most important thing we can do to protect it is to stop burning fossil fuels.”
The President of the Marshall Islands said the pre-COP in Tuvalu and Fiji should have given the world a taste of the “lived reality” of climate change for Pacific communities. She acknowledged Turkiye and Australia for amplifying Pacific Voices during the pre-COP, and now in Antalya.
“The Pacific will continue to fight. To make our opposition to coal production and gas exports known. To call for the developed world to pay for its actions. And to remind those who want to build their future at the expense of the Pacific, that while every country has the right to develop, no one has the right to pollute their neighbours.” The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place from 9-20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye
