ANTALYA, Türkiye — November 13, 2026 — His Excellency Wesley W. Simina, President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), delivered the FSM’s national statement at the High-Level Segment of the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), reaffirming the nation’s commitment to global climate action and highlighting the urgent need for stronger international support for vulnerable island nations.
The President’s address comes against the backdrop of the devastating impacts of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, that struck the FSM earlier this year and the ongoing impacts of current El Nino conditions.
The President reaffirmed the fundamental importance of the limiting global warming to 1.5°C, warning that the world is confronting an unprecedented period of overshoot, with increasingly severe consequences for coral reefs, ocean ecosystems, food security and the livelihoods of island communities.
Every fraction of a degree counts. Every fraction avoided reduces risk. Every year in which we can slow the rate of warming provides more time for adaptation and reduces the pressure on ecosystems approaching their limits,” President Simina emphasized.
A central message of the FSM’s intervention was the urgent need for faster reductions in methane and other short-lived climate pollutants to slow warming in the near term. While sustained reductions in carbon dioxide remain indispensable to limiting long-term temperature rise, rapid methane action offers an important opportunity to reduce the pace of warming and help limit the severity and duration of 1.5°C overshoot.
In this regard the President stressed the importance of full implementation of the Kigali Amendment, improved energy efficiency and reductions in other super pollutants, alongside an accelerated, just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.
President Simina highlighted the collective call by Pacific Island Forum Leaders, reflected in the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting Communiqué, for all countries to address short-lived climate pollutants, particularly methane, as an essential component of global climate action.
President Simina also emphasized the need for predictable and accessible climate financing to support adaptation efforts, particularly in freshwater security, coastal protection, resilient infrastructure, food security, and public health. He reaffirmed the FSM’s commitment to ocean stewardship, sustainable fisheries, and marine biodiversity protection, including through the BBNJ Agreement.
On the margins of COP31, President Simina joined fellow Pacific Island leaders and development partners at a meeting on the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), demonstrating solidarity with the Pacific family and its collective efforts to strengthen climate resilience through Pacific-led solutions.
Concluding his national statement, President Simina reinforced the Pacific’s determination to contribute meaningful solutions to the global climate challenge.
“The Pacific does not come to this conference merely to describe what we stand to lose. We come with solutions, with determination, and with a long tradition of looking after one another. We ask the international community to meet our leadership with action,” President Simina declared.
###