November 13th, 2024, COP29, Baku—Delegates from the Pacific have been readying for this week’s COP29 negotiations since the gavel fell at the last session, and more than two decades of climate negotiations before that.
Pacific journalists heard of the preparations and determination of Pacific negotiators from their first Pacific ‘State of Play’ briefing from COP29, in virtual mode with SPREP Director for Climate Change Resilience, Tagaloa Cooper-Halo.
The State of Play Pacific briefings are part of spreading the word from the annual UNFCCC meetings on Pacific priorities at the global climate negotiations, which Australia hopes to bring to the Pacific in two years’ time.
That question is not the focus for the Pacific this week, Director Cooper-Halo emphasized in the session with Pacific journalists from across the region. With the Pacific’s Environment Program, SPREP, leading what is known as the OneCROP (a united grouping of all regional organisations of the Pacific supporting the collective positions of Pacific SIDS to the COP), she noted the ending of COP 28 set the groundwork for another year of climate advocacy.
“First thing in the year, and then throughout the year,” she explained, “SPREP, with our partners, has been supporting countries and their negotiators with deep dive sessions, workshops, briefs, and communication pieces in the lead-up to this COP.”
This steady preparation culminated in an in-person preparatory meeting in October in Nadi, Fiji, “where we also held a ministerial meeting tagged to that preparatory session for this COP.”
By that point, the Director highlighted, “our Pacific countries have agreed to their positions, they have agreed to their red lines, and they have agreed on their high-level key messaging.”
This unified approach, called “the one voice,” means that “whatever thematic area they are negotiating in, they have got the same message as a Pacific collective.”
The Pacific has identified 13 priority areas, ranging from climate finance and mobilizing access to funds, to adaptation, loss and damage, mitigation, and a just transition.
“It is a massive body of work, but we also have the support of our technical agencies in the Pacific, like the Pacific Islands Forum, SPC, and others,” Director Cooper-Halo said. “So by the time they arrive here at COP, they have their briefs, and they have their compass (a shared guide on Pacific positions).”
More than 300 Pacific delegates, including government officials, NGOs, and CSOs, have come to COP29, representing a united voice to advocate for their key climate priorities. The side events, negotiations, and plenary sessions will break for one day this Sunday, before heading past the halfway point towards the final sessions on Friday November 22.—Sera Sefeti, Guest Editor, Pacific State of Play@COP29.
