CARICOM climate negotiators, thematic leads, regional institutions, youth representatives, and civil society partners convened to shape a unified Caribbean strategy for COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye during the CARICOM Technical Negotiators Strategy Meeting in Guyana.
The meeting was a critical forum that operationalises to coordinate the region’s negotiating priorities.
Participants reviewed and refined CARICOM’s positions across seven priority negotiation areas: mitigation ambition and NDC implementation; the Global Goal on Adaptation and the Belém Indicator Framework; climate finance and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG); operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage; carbon market integrity under Article 6; transparency and capacity building; and cross-cutting issues including gender, oceans, and trade.
The two-day meeting, facilitated by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) in collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat, funded by the Open Society Foundation (OSF), and guided by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) 2026 strategic priorities, took place against a complex post-COP30 landscape.
While the Belém Political Package, adopted in November 2025, delivered incremental progress on adaptation indicators, just transition, and climate finance commitments, CARICOM and AOSIS have maintained that the outcomes remain insufficient for the urgent realities facing Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Assistant Executive Director Mansfield Blackwood noted that the outcomes of the Belém meeting fell short of expectations in several critical areas, reflecting persistent divisions among parties on key issues.
“ It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the voices of our vulnerable nations are not only heard but are used to shape the architecture that we negotiate,” Blackwood stated, “The road to Antalya will not be easy nor without its challenges. Positions will diverge, competing priorities will require careful navigation. This will call for rigorous negotiations pursued with clarity, mutual respect, back by the collective strength of our nations.”
He emphasized that for Caribbean countries, these unresolved issues remain particularly significant, as access to adequate climate finance, fair trade mechanisms, and stronger global commitments to reduce fossil fuel dependence are essential to advancing the region’s climate resilience and sustainable development goals.
Blackwood added that while the discussions highlighted ongoing challenges within the global negotiation process, they also underscored the need for continued regional collaboration and strategic engagement in future climate negotiations.
CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General Dr. Wendell Samuel, addressing the hybrid audience, emphasized the urgency of the moment, stating:
“COP31 cannot be just another conference. It is a test of whether the world will act in time to safeguard vulnerable regions like ours. As CARICOM negotiators prepare for COP31, our focus must remain on unity, securing climate finance, and advancing robust adaptation strategies to protect the region’s future.
Building on the coordination and momentum generated during preparations for COP30, the Caribbean must enter the negotiations with a sharper, more unified stance, one that demands stronger commitments from major emitters and ensures the resources needed to build resilience and safeguard our people, economies, and ecosystems.”
For Caribbean Small Island Developing States, these negotiations carry significant implications. The region remains among the most climate-vulnerable in the world, facing intensifying hurricanes, coastal erosion, water insecurity, and mounting economic pressures linked to climate impacts. Securing ambitious global mitigation commitments, accessible climate finance, and meaningful progress on adaptation and loss and damage, therefore, remains central to CARICOM’s negotiating agenda.
By convening technical negotiators and regional partners, CARICOM aims to ensure that Caribbean priorities are clearly defined, strategically aligned, and effectively advanced in the global climate negotiations in the lead-up to COP31.