COP31 President and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum, in his speech at the "Climate Implementation Bridge: From Commitment to Implementation" program held at the Likya Hall in the COP31 Area, stated that the fact that leaders from different environments, different economic structures and different priorities envision a common future in Antalya further increases the political power of COP31.
Emphasizing that this strong will coming together at the summit brought courage to the negotiation tables and a new field of action to the implementation agendas, Kurum said, "As Turkey, we clearly stated our goal when assuming the COP31 Presidency. To carry climate action from commitment to implementation, from idea to investment, from decision to results. Since the first day we took over this presidency, we have seen it as our main duty to bring the parties together around the same table, establish common ground between different views and produce results." he said.
Stating that the 2025 Global Assessment Report of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction reveals that the annual cost of disasters to the world economy exceeds 2.3 trillion dollars, when the chain effects and ecosystem losses are taken into account, the Institution said that every 1 dollar investment in resilience can prevent a loss of 15 dollars in some cases.
Underlining that durability is one of the smartest investments that protect the future, Kurum continued his words as follows:
"There is a similar warning on the food and agriculture front. The 2025 World Soil and Water Resources Report reveals that more than 60 percent of human-caused land degradation occurs in agricultural areas, and more than 70 percent of the world's freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture. The prosperity of the future will be established with the right investments of today. All this data shows us another truth. We know what needs to be done. The main issue now is to build the capacity to quickly turn this knowledge into practice. For a farmer, this is access to water and fertile soil. For a city, it is resilient." "It is infrastructure. It is a new business area for a young person and a stronger, safer and more sustainable development path for a country."
The institution stated that in the dialogue, consensus, action approach of the COP31 Presidency, trust is created through dialogue, the common will is enlarged through consensus, and this will is carried to the field with action.
Touching on the importance of the BRIDGE project, the Institution said, "BRIDGE is very important. We are establishing a strong implementation line that connects a country's goal to the investment project, its financing need to the right source, its capacity need to information and technology. This structure, which we developed together with UNDP, will act from the countries' own development priorities and bring international opportunities together with these priorities." he said.
Kurum explained that Chile, Mexico, Barbados, Zambia and Lebanon have now joined the journey that started with Ethiopia, Fiji, Indonesia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan in New York, and emphasized that they have established a new application network from Antalya to Asia, Africa, the Pacific and Latin America.
Stating that they formed the steering committee to make this structure permanent and strengthened its continuity with the COP32 presidency, Kurum said:
"Leadership gains meaning by first assuming responsibility. As Turkey, we will provide financial support to BRIDGE's first efforts. The certificate of intent that we will sign with UNDP will be the concrete expression of this will. As a country, we take responsibility. Because Türkiye's history is the history of leading and building bridges. Today, we are building the bridges between geographies between goals and opportunities, needs and resources, today's decisions and tomorrow's prosperity. The Leaders Summit in Antalya once again showed us that the world is looking for a common direction." Türkiye, as a center that builds trust, brings together different voices and carries the common will to results, contributes and will continue to contribute to the shaping of this direction.
We want Antalya to be a city where the will to implement climate diplomacy is strengthened when COP31 is remembered years later. The most valuable legacy we will leave to the world from Antalya will be to show that the common will is reflected in real life. Let Türkiye's COP31 presidency be the name of an era where words turn into action, goals turn into investments, and common will turns into permanent works. "I say, let's build this bridge together, let's determine the direction of the future together from Antalya."
