Three young Kiwis heading to COP31 climate talks in Türkiye
Three young New Zealanders will attend the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, as civil society delegates, not as part of the official New Zealand delegation, according to RNZ.
The three are Ataria MacDonald, Aigagalefili Fepulea'i-Tapua'i and Aditi Tiwari, and all are in their twenties. COP is the annual United Nations climate change conference. COP31 runs from 9 to 20 November 2026, and an estimated 80,000 people are attending.
MacDonald is 26 and is of Ngāti Manuhiri, an iwi (tribe) whose rohe, or tribal area, runs from Takapuna to Mangawhai and includes the islands of the Hauraki Gulf (Tīkapa Moana). She is the aquaculture project manager for her iwi. She is attending alongside Nicola Rata-MacDonald, the chief executive of Ngāti Manuhiri.
The three say Pacific communities must be at the forefront of global climate action. Earlier in the year, Pacific youth leaders met in Nadi, Fiji, in early October to discuss climate priorities ahead of COP31, and advocated a 1.5°C limit on global warming.
The New Zealand delegation is travelling while the country has a caretaker government, which is in place following an inconclusive election. Caretaker climate minister Simon Watts will attend COP31 from 15 to 18 November. Labour's Deborah Russell and the Green Party's Francisco Hernandez will also attend.
The transition to clean energy is a priority on COP31's "action agenda", the set of practical goals the summit is focusing on.
The summit's location changed during the bidding process. Australia bid to host COP31 in partnership with Pacific island states. A late bid from Türkiye led to a co-hosting arrangement and a move of the venue from Adelaide to Antalya. Australia's prime minister said in November 2025 that a formal agreement had been reached for Türkiye to host the summit.
