Pacific journalists covering the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye, will help ensure that the region’s climate change concerns, priorities and solutions reach audiences back home, including in Vanuatu.
VBTC is covering the conference from Antalya, bringing audiences in Vanuatu updates on the discussions and developments at COP31.
A team of 17 Pacific journalists is participating in the Pacific Media Team at COP31, taking place from 9 to 20 November. Their role is to report on the region’s experiences and ensure Pacific perspectives are represented in international climate discussions.
Nanette Woonton from the Communications and Outreach Unit of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), which helps coordinate the media team, said journalists play an important role in connecting global climate negotiations with Pacific communities.
“They are the storytellers and they share the messages. It’s important that the team here are taking stories of the Pacific work, both to global media and across the world, but also back home to our Pacific communities.”
Four Priorities for Pacific Climate Reporting
The team’s reporting will focus on four major priorities identified by the Pacific:
- Keeping the global warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.
- Improving access to adequate climate finance.
- Highlighting the connection between oceans and climate change.
- Amplifying Pacific voices in global climate discussions.
These priorities are important to Vanuatu and other Pacific Island countries, which continue to face rising sea levels, coastal erosion, extreme weather events and other climate-related challenges.
Woonton said it was important for Pacific communities to tell their own stories and ensure the world understands what they are experiencing.
“If we don’t tell our stories or amplify our voices, nobody will know what’s happening. And this is where the media play a big role.”
She added that Pacific journalists would also help audiences back home understand what their representatives are doing during negotiations involving more than 198 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Highlighting Pacific Solutions and Leadership
The coverage will also focus on the work Pacific communities and governments are doing to respond to climate change, rather than reporting only on the impacts.
Woonton referred to the solutions-based forum hosted by Vanuatu earlier this year as an example of Pacific leadership and practical responses to climate challenges.
“Vanuatu held the solutions-based forum this year, and it was there that we really saw what it is that Pacific people are doing to live with the impacts of climate change. So, the media plays a really instrumental role in getting all of that information out there and telling these stories.”
The Pacific Media Team brings journalists from across the region together to share climate stories and ensure the experiences and priorities of Pacific communities are heard internationally.
The partnership is supported by the New Zealand Government through its Loss and Damage Fund programme and the Australian Government through the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS). Content produced by the journalists will be published through their respective local media organisations and Pasifika TV.
For Vanuatu, the coverage provides an opportunity to follow the country’s climate priorities, understand developments at COP31 and hear how Pacific representatives are advocating for stronger climate action.
