'We have to act now' - Views from the queue at COP31

Updated / Monday, 9 Nov 2026 13:17

The COP31 climate change conference is under way in Turkey and around 100,000 people are expected to attend.

This includes world leaders, climate experts, NGOs and members of civil society.

With so many people descending on the convention centre, the queues are lengthy - so long in fact that organisers have asked people without urgent business on-site today, to wait until tomorrow to collect their badges.

In the queue, people spoke about their hopes for the two-week summit and shared the reasons why they travelled to Antalya.

Gabrielly Santana Lima is from the Amazon region of Brazil.

"Right now, we’re facing many different impacts of the climate crisis, we have droughts, we have floods, especially at this time of year," she said.

"My hope for COP is that we achieve high ambitions and start to actually do things because we have to act now."

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Luna Fechino is an engineering student from France and has come to COP with some of her classmates.

She said the conference "gives her hope" and she is particularly interested in a just transition from fossil fuels.

"How can we, as young people, hope to have a good career, a good life, when our planet is burning," she said.

Awat Bertrand Abanyi from Cameroon spoke about how climate change is forcing people to become displaced in the Lake Chad region of his country.

He wants to "advocate for more actions, more investment, more support".

Watch the video to hear from more people in the queue at COP31.