Published on: 2026-11-09
Source: United Nations
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
November 9, 2026 Climate and Environment
Representatives from nearly 200 countries have arrived on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast for the climate summit – COP-31 – with a single goal: fewer loud proclamations and more concrete solutions. As the powerful El Niño phenomenon threatens to worsen extreme weather conditions, negotiators face the challenge of addressing complex issues related to climate finance, clean energy, and protecting communities already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Main topics at the UN Climate Change Conference today
Opening of CS-31: 90 thousand people from all over the world gathered in Antalya. The summit is scheduled to conclude on Friday, November 20.
Australia is striving to conclude a “deal” at the early stages of the conference: countries are being invited to start forming a political agreement from the first days, rather than waiting for the summit to conclude.
Financing remains a stumbling block: developing countries insist on faster access to climate financing. Also on the agenda are clean energy, adaptation, and a just transition to renewable energy sources.
The focus of delegates on the first day of the conference: the impact of climate change on humans.
The Mediterranean city of Antalya is well acquainted with world history. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans have left their mark on this stretch of Turkey’s southern coast. Now, as representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered here for the UN climate summit, the question is whether they can write a new chapter in history by turning decades of climate promises into real action.
“Progress cannot be called sufficient or fair in any way,” said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, at the opening of the plenary session on Monday, urging countries to go beyond setting goals and “accelerate solutions” that can change the situation on the ground.
“No CS conference is a magic bullet. No single event can help us bridge the gap between science and reality,” he noted.
A challenge for negotiators
Unlike summits dominated by a single landmark agreement, COP-31 is focused on implementing existing commitments.
Turkey’s Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum officially took over the reins this morning as the chair of COP-31, while Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen will oversee the negotiations.
“Our solutions must take shape in the infrastructure of cities, on farmers’ lands, and on factory production lines. Families should feel their impact in the form of reduced electricity bills,” Kurum told the delegates.
UNFCCC / K. Wurt The COP-31 conference is taking place in Antalya, a city on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.
Bowen announced plans to develop the final decision throughout the conference rather than wait for its final days. The goal is to coordinate practical measures to accelerate climate action, although disagreements remain among the parties regarding how ambitious the outcome should be.
Funding is expected to be one of the most challenging topics: developing countries aim to gain faster access to resources for adaptation and greener development. Negotiators also need to advance agreements on reducing harmful emissions and ensuring a just transition.
“We know that opinions will differ – regarding the value of the agreement, its elements, the scale of our steps. But our task is to try to smooth out these differences and make the most ambitious and result-oriented decision that will allow us to reach consensus,” Bowen explained.
When climate change becomes a public health emergency
The key topic of the first day of the conference was food, agriculture, and health. Climate change is causing increasing harm to human health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 3.3 billion and 3.6 billion people live in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. Extreme heat and floods are already endangering lives and placing a tremendous burden on healthcare systems worldwide.
“The main protagonist at the center of this story is not the atmosphere. It is not the land, the ocean, or the ice. It is us. You and I, our families and our communities,” said Alan Dangour from the Wellcome Trust, urging the climate negotiation participants to put people at the center of their decisions.
“We cannot adapt to a future in which no measures are taken to mitigate the consequences [of climate change],” warned Dangur.
An especially alarming example is abnormal heat. Scientists are increasingly saying that it can lead to premature births and stillbirths. Those who work outdoors, children, and the elderly are also at high risk.
The head of the Joint WHO/WMO Climate and Health Office, Joy Shumake-Guilmo, told the UN News Service in an interview about how meteorologists and medical workers are joining forces to reduce these risks.
Climate information is being integrated into public health planning. For example, forecasts of dangerously high temperatures can help hospitals prepare to receive more patients, while precipitation forecasts and seasonal forecasts help health authorities anticipate outbreaks of diseases such as malaria in advance.
“Weather is very practical information; it is directly related to decisions made in the healthcare sector, yet medical workers often do not have access to it,” she said.
“From a public health perspective, practically all cases of death from heat can actually be prevented,” added the expert.
Agriculture: from emissions to solutions
Food and agriculture account for about one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, this sector is also extremely vulnerable to climate change, as rising temperatures, droughts, and floods threaten crop yields.
Agriculture can also be part of the solution. Cristian Barrasueta, representing the World Rural Forum, told the UN News Service that farmers are already applying some of the innovative approaches in practice. For example, in Fiji, families are experimenting with different crop varieties and looking for ways to protect seedlings from increasingly powerful cyclones.
For Barrasueta, the priority is to ensure that family farms have a voice in shaping climate policy and can access the financing needed for adaptation.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It is an accurate report of what the source asserts and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.