COP31 Presidency Puts Forward a Declaration to Sustain Global Climate Observations

ANTALYA, Türkiye — A draft declaration in the name of the COP31 Presidency asks governments and public and private partners to fund the global climate observing system. It was handed over on Nov. 10, 2026, for the COP31 President's signature and opened for governments and organizations to endorse.

The document, published by GCOS, calls for international coordination paid for by predictable, multi-year contributions, protection of threatened observing networks and satellite measurements, and the closing of gaps in under-observed and vulnerable regions. Citing the draft GCOS action plan, it puts the recurring coordination gap at about $10 million a year and the observing work it names at $500 million a year.

Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said GCOS's draft status report confirms that the planet's annual checkup is "getting patchy." "Some key measurements have already declined," she said. "The basic weather network the world agreed on is less than 40% in place." The world spends close to $10 billion a year on climate observations, Saulo noted.

Thelma Krug, the GCOS chair, handed the document to the Presidency's Volkan Mutlu Coşkun, director general of the Turkish State Meteorological Service, to forward for the president's signature. "This declaration will be open for ministers to sign throughout these two weeks," Krug pointed out.

Nuala O'Brien, director of the climate unit at Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs, noted that Ireland supports the declaration. Hans Olav Ibrekk, Norway's special envoy for climate and security, said Norway fully supports the call to action and that observing systems should be treated as "basic infrastructure."

Coşkun added that Türkiye has started a three-year program with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency to train 30 meteorological experts a year, "mainly from developing and least developed countries."

Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, who directs the UNFCCC secretariat's intergovernmental support and collective progress division and moderated the session, was asked in an interview recorded for ALLATRA Media whether the international community is keeping pace with climate-related disasters. "There is a huge gap," she said. "Many countries do not have access to early warning systems."

The status report and the action plan are in open review and are due in February 2027, according to a UNFCCC information note. The declaration stays open for endorsement until the talks close Nov. 20, 2026.