On November 9, 2026, Haiti’s Ministry of the Environment formally confirmed the deployment of a comprehensive, cross-sectoral national delegation to the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31), hosted in Antalya, Turkey through November 20, 2026. Headed by Environment Minister Valéry Fils-Aimé, with Rockendy René serving as Deputy Head of Delegation, the cohort brings together far more than core technical specialists and official UNFCCC negotiators: it includes appointed representatives from Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of the Status of Women, alongside leadership from the Directorate General of Civil Protection, National Solid Waste Management Service, National Agency for Protected Areas, and independent civil society climate advocates. Critically, the Ministry of the Environment noted that all travel, accommodation, and operational costs for the entire COP31 mission are fully covered by international technical and financial partners, requiring zero disbursement from Haiti’s strained national public treasury. The Haitian delegation’s formal negotiating agenda is anchored in targeted, actionable demands centered on removing longstanding barriers to accessible, non-debt-generating climate finance for low-income vulnerable nations, with dedicated emphasis on funding for local climate adaptation initiatives and the global Loss and Damage Fund, all aligned with the global collective target of capping global average temperature rise at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Delegates will also lobby global stakeholders to unlock dedicated resources required to fully implement Haiti’s updated third iteration of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) and its national cross-sectoral National Adaptation Plan (NAP), which were drafted to address the country’s extreme vulnerability to hurricanes, droughts, coastal erosion, and climate-fueled food insecurity. The Ministry of the Environment has published a full 21-page French-language official national position paper, available for public download via the official HaitiLibre portal, that lays out the full scope of Haiti’s strategic negotiating priorities across key COP31 thematic tracks: equitable climate finance, community-led adaptation, scaled loss and damage support, a fair just transition for frontline developing economies, targeted emissions mitigation, barrier-free green technology transfer, and local capacity building for national climate governance. The document formalizes Haiti’s core public stance that global climate ambition cannot remain a rhetorical promise unless paired with tangible, accessible, and equitable implementation mechanisms for nations that have contributed almost nothing to historical greenhouse gas emissions but bear the brunt of climate impacts. Beyond formal negotiating sessions, the Haitian delegation has scheduled a series of high-impact public and bilateral engagements: Minister Fils-Aimé will deliver a formal national address during the COP31 high-level leader segment, and will sign Haiti onto the first ever global intergovernmental political commitment focused on protecting climate-resilient coral reefs, a critical priority for Haiti’s coastal ecosystems, fishing livelihoods, and natural storm surge defense systems. Delegates, who hold specialized expertise spanning physical geography, climate transparency frameworks, carbon market governance, disaster risk reduction, gender-inclusive climate policy, and human-climate security, will also hold targeted bilateral meetings with donor nations, multilateral agencies, and non-state partners to advance targeted national priorities, build institutional technical capacity, and co-design long-term partnerships to boost community and territorial climate resilience across Haiti. On November 16, 2026, from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM local Antalya time, Haiti will co-host a dedicated official side event at the CARICOM pavilion, themed around financing pathways to build climate-resilient shared prosperity across the Caribbean region. The session will feature joint remarks from Haiti’s Environment Minister and Belize’s Environment Minister, alongside senior representatives from key regional and global financial institutions including the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Adaptation Fund, to highlight shared regional barriers to climate funding and collaborative solutions for small island and low-lying coastal developing states.
Environment : A large delegation from Haiti is participating in COP31 in Turkey
