By Patrick Biddah
Long before the negotiators arrive in Antalya in November, a room at the University of Ghana is already making its position clear: Africa cannot keep being spoken about at climate conferences. It has to be spoken with, and by.
That was the through-line at a public lecture held on 8 June 2026 at the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, convened jointly by UGBS, C3SS, and the Australian High Commission. The theme, “The Voices of Africa and the Pacific at COP31,” was not decorative. It was a statement of intent.
Prof. Albert Ahenkan, Professor of Sustainable Development and Head of the Department of Public Administration at UGBS, put the imbalance plainly. Africa contributes less than four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet the continent faces some of the most severe consequences of a crisis it did not cause, from erratic rainfall and crop failure to coastal erosion and displacement.
That gap between responsibility and impact, he argued, is precisely why Africa’s lived experience must sit at the centre of agenda-setting at COP31, not at the edges.
Prof. Kwadwo Owusu, Director of C3SS, reinforced the point by grounding it in what his institution has spent over a decade building: a cadre of African climate specialists capable of shaping global discourse from within.
The Centre, which started as a master’s programme around 2012, has grown into a research and training institution producing graduates working across the continent on climate-related challenges.
Prof. Owusu called for platforms like this one to multiply and expressed optimism that the engagement with Australia and Türkiye could mark the beginning of sustained collaboration.
For its part, the Australian High Commission used the occasion to signal that these calls are being heard at the negotiating table.
Australia’s approach to its role as President of Negotiations for COP31 places explicit emphasis on elevating Pacific priorities, but the broader principle of centering frontline voices applies equally to Africa.
The Commission’s representative stressed that inputs from stakeholders across regions, including Africa, would directly inform how negotiations are approached in Antalya.
H.E. Dilara Cesar, Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Ghana, affirmed that the concerns of vulnerable regions are not peripheral to the COP31 Presidency’s agenda.
She stated that Africa stands not only at the centre of the climate challenge, but also of the solution, and that Africa holds immense potential for a resilient, green, and inclusive development pathway.
She added that the Presidency supports the principle of African solutions to African problems, including within the framework of the COP31 Action Agenda.
