Prime Minister Davis to Lead The Bahamas at COP 31 in Antalya, Türkiye
Blue carbon and sea-level rise top the agenda. Deputy Prime Minister Cooper to serve as Acting Prime Minister.
NASSAU, The Bahamas: Prime Minister the Hon. Philip E. Davis, K.C., M.P., departs Nassau this evening for Antalya, Republic of Türkiye. He will lead The Bahamas at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 31). On 11 and 12 November, he will join Heads of State and Government at the Antalya Leaders Summit.
The Prime Minister will present The Bahamas Blue Carbon Programme and invite international partners to invest in it. He will also press for funded action on sea-level rise and fairer access to climate finance for small island developing states.
The Bahamas holds the largest seagrass meadows of any nation on Earth, covering 53,657 square kilometres. The meadows store carbon, support the fisheries that Bahamian families rely on and soften waves before they reach the shore. The Prime Minister will set out how The Bahamas is bringing its seagrass into its Nationally Determined Contribution for the first time.
The Government has committed US$25 million to the first phase of The Bahamas Blue Carbon Programme. That phase covers national mapping, field verification and sampling, measurement and reporting, and initial seagrass conservation. Bahamian field teams are working across thirty survey areas, from Grand Bahama and Abaco to the southern islands.
The Carbon Credit Trading Act 2022 and the Climate Change and Carbon Market Initiatives Act 2022 provide the Programme’s legal framework. They allow The Bahamas to cooperate under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement as a sovereign partner.
The Prime Minister will invite governments, institutions, investors and development partners to begin talks on Article 6 cooperation, scientific partnerships, investment and future purchase arrangements. The finance raised will support conservation and benefit-sharing with Bahamian communities.
“Small island states are too often described only by what we stand to lose,” said Prime Minister Davis. “The Bahamas goes to Antalya with something to offer. Our seagrass meadows hold carbon the world cannot afford to release, and we intend to protect them in ways partners can measure and invest in.”
In September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its first Declaration on Sea-Level Rise. The Prime Minister will press for the Declaration to be turned into funded action on the ground. For a low-lying archipelago like The Bahamas, rising seas threaten land, homes, livelihoods and heritage.
In The Bahamas’ national statement, the Prime Minister will call for climate finance that small island developing states can reach quickly and on fair terms.
COP 31 runs from 9 to 20 November. His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, has invited Heads of State and Government to the Antalya Leaders Summit. The Prime Minister arrives in Antalya on Monday, 9 November.
On Tuesday, 10 November, he will hold a working session with technical partners of The Bahamas Blue Carbon Programme. He will also meet the senior leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme on The Bahamas’ climate reporting initiatives and wider climate change work.
On Wednesday, 11 November, the Prime Minister will attend the formal opening of the Antalya Leaders Summit. That afternoon, he will deliver the address at The Bahamas Blue Carbon Programme event at the CARICOM Pavilion. A panel on the national seagrass inventory and Article 6 readiness will follow.
On Thursday, 12 November, the Prime Minister will deliver The Bahamas’ national statement to the High-Level Segment of COP 31.
The same day, he will speak at a high-level session on sea-level rise and coastal resilience. The Global Centre for Climate Mobility convenes the session, which The Bahamas co-hosts with Saint Kitts and Nevis. The President of the United Nations General Assembly will give the keynote address, and the leaders of Maldives and Tuvalu will also speak.
The visit takes place days after The Bahamas and the Republic of Türkiye marked fifty-two years of diplomatic relations on 5 November.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technology, the Hon. I. Chester Cooper, M.P., will serve as Acting Prime Minister. He will act from the Prime Minister’s departure this evening until his return to The Bahamas on Friday, 13 November.
The Office of the Prime Minister will provide updates on the Prime Minister’s engagements throughout the visit.
ENDS