Fiji and Tuvalu will host key meetings in the lead-up to the COP31 climate summit in 2026, the Pacific Islands Forum said on Thursday.
The bloc said Fiji will host the pre-COP31 meeting and Tuvalu will host a special leaders’ component, under an agreement negotiated between Australia and Turkey.
The low-lying Pacific islands are on the front line of global climate change, facing rising sea levels and related crises that have forced some residents to move to higher ground.
Australia and Turkey had been locked in a long-running tussle to host the U.N. conference, the world’s main forum for driving climate action, before reaching a split-hosting deal in November.
The agreement gave Turkey the hosting rights of the main COP31 event with Australia leading talks and the Pacific hosting pre-summit meetings.
“I am pleased to announce that following a political consultative process, the COP31 pre-COP meeting will be convened in Fiji in October 2026, with a special Leaders component to be held in Tuvalu,” Jeremiah Manele, PIF chair and Solomon Islands prime minister, said in a statement on social media.
