The Women and Gender Constituency at Pacific Pre-COP31

The Pacific Pre-COP31 will bring together government ministers, officials, investors and industry leaders from around the world. The meeting offers countries an opportunity to test ideas, understand different priorities, identify areas of disagreement, and explore potential areas of convergence ahead of formal COP negotiations.

Recognizing the Pacific’s particular vulnerability to climate change, Türkiye, as COP31 President, and Australia, as President of Negotiations, have decided to host Pre-COP31 in the Pacific, with meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu. This decision seeks to highlight the region’s vulnerability to climate change and amplify the voices and concerns of Pacific Island communities in global climate discussions.

The Pacific region is on the front lines of intersecting crises, including climate change, extractivism, gender-based violence and inequality. Across the Blue Pacific, communities are experiencing increasingly severe climate impacts, including sea-level rise, extreme heat, biodiversity loss, displacement, food and water insecurity, ocean degradation, loss and damage (including non-economic loss and damage), and more frequent climate-induced disasters. These impacts disproportionately affect Indigenous Pacific women and girls, gender-diverse people, persons with disabilities, grassroots communities and other climate-vulnerable populations.

Against this backdrop, the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) is dedicating its engagement at Pre-COP31 to amplifying the voices, demands and ambitions of Pacific feminists and ensuring they are meaningfully reflected in global climate negotiations.

Our engagement will focus on advancing the 17 demands of Pacific feminists ahead of COP31 and amplifying the newly adopted Pacific Pact on Gender and Climate Action. These efforts aim to bring Pacific feminist priorities to the forefront of climate discussions and strengthen their influence on climate policy and decision-making.

Recognizing Pre-COP31’s role as a high-level technical meeting to prepare for COP31, the WGC will actively engage in official sessions and bilateral meetings with ministers and other key decision-makers. Our advocacy will focus on keeping the 1.5°C temperature limit within reach, advancing an ambitious, fit-for-purpose Just Transition Mechanism, securing adequate and accessible adaptation finance, and ensuring that gender equality and feminist principles are central to climate policies and action.

Through these engagements, the WGC seeks to ensure that Pacific feminist priorities are not only heard but also meaningfully reflected in the outcomes of COP31.

1. Speaking at the opening plenary of the pre-COP
2. Speaking at the Stakeholder Forum
3. Engagement in formal parallel sessions
4. “Defence of the Living Planet” Exhibition booth with DIVA and PIFA4CJ
5. Bilateral with Australian Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience
6. Co-host of “Pacific Gender and Climate Champions Talanoa,”
   6–8:30 pm, Green Zone.
   Hosted by UN Women Multicountry Office  — by invitation 
7. Side event Co-organisers, moderator, and speakers at Side Event:
   “Urgent Climate Action: Nationalising the Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP) 2026-2034”
   1:45–2:30 pm
   Organised by Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati, DIVA for Equality, PIFA4CJ, Women and Gender Constituency, Kustom Keepers, Pacific Conference of Churches, Australia National University, UN Women Fiji MCO
8. Speaking at Side Event: “Accelerating the global policy agenda for early warning and early action”
9. Speaking at Pre-COP31 People’s Assembly
   Sails Restaurant, Denarau. 4–7 pm
10. Additional bilateral meetings, caucus hosting, networking events, and more

• Mwanahamisi Singano (Tanzania), Director of Policy at WEDO and WGC Co-Focal PointAn African feminist and policy strategist, Mishy serves as Director of Policy at WEDO, anchoring the organization’s credibility and coherence across global climate and environmental processes. She leads substantive engagement across Rio Conventions and related policy spaces, ensuring WEDO’s advocacy remains rigorous, aligned, and politically strategic. Mishy co-leads the Women and Gender Constituency and works closely with partners worldwide to strengthen feminist influence in climate governance. With more than 19 years of experience advancing women’s rights and environmental justice, she brings deep expertise in coalition-building, negotiation strategy, and structural analysis.Key Topics: gender and climate (overall) | global stocktake | just transition | adaptation | biodiversity

• Babitha P.S. (Kerala/India)Babitha is an activist and feminist development practitioner who works with children and youth from local communities. Since 2012, she has been advancing grassroots work through co-creating eco-wise communities in the realms of sustainability, waste management, and just transition. Currently, her focus areas include the integration of gender justice in international climate politics and within the global climate justice movement by amplifying local struggles and resistance. She is the founding campaigner of  Menstruation Matters, a platform which brings together educators, practitioners, activists, youth and organisations to open dialogues on Menstrual Rights and Equity. She has also co-founded Green Army International, which is a youth-led movement to educate children on Zero Waste schemes and for toxic-free futures.Key Topics: SRHR | ACE | Gender

• Noelene Nabulivou (FIJI), (Co) Executive Director, DIVA for Equality #DIVA4Equality
  

• Viva Tatawaqa (FIJI), Management Collective Member, DIVA for Equality