Pre-COP31: Australia must end fossil fuel expansion and support environmental defenders to show real climate leadership in the Asia-Pacific

4 October 2026

As governments, Pacific leaders, communities and civil society gather in Fiji and Tuvalu for the Pre-COP31 meetings, Amnesty International has launched a global campaign spotlighting environmental human rights defenders around the world and calling on Australia to turn its claim to Pacific climate leadership into concrete action.

"As President of Negotiations at COP31, Australia has a particular responsibility to stand with its Pacific neighbours and secure ambitious, human rights-centred outcomes. Australia cannot credibly claim climate leadership while continuing to support fossil fuel expansion that deepens the harms facing Pacific and Australian communities," said Nikita White, Strategic Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia.

"Australia cannot credibly claim climate leadership while continuing to support fossil fuel expansion that deepens the harms facing Pacific and Australian communities,"

Nikita White, Strategic Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia

Amnesty International has documented how climate change is already harming human rights in Tuvalu, Kiribati and other Pacific Island countries. Rising seas, extreme heat, droughts and saltwater intrusion are threatening people's rights to water, food, health, adequate housing and a safe future.

"It is hypocritical of the Australian Government to position itself as a leader in the Asia-Pacific region while ignoring pleas from our neighbours to take ambitious climate action."

The Amnesty International campaign is being launched with a new report, "Protecting our Future: Environmental Human Rights Defenders Powering Just Transitions" which includes First Nations people challenging offshore oil and gas exploration threatening their lands and waters.

"The Australian Government must take COP-31 as an opportunity to stop the approval of new fossil fuel projects, properly tax and hold to account oil, coal, and gas companies, and ensure that those companies funds a just transition grounded in human rights."

Sea of Nations - Advocates for Sea Country

One of the human rights defenders highlighted in the report is Antonia Burke, a First Nations woman from the Yanyuwa and Garrwa peoples in the Northern Territory and Director of Sea of Nations. Antonia advocates for the protection of Sea Country and the rights of Indigenous and coastal communities affected by offshore oil and gas development in the Timor and Arafura Seas.

Petroleum wells in the Arafura and Timor Seas. © Source NOPTA

Through community organising and legal advocacy, she has helped secure greater government accountability and consultation with First Nations peoples while campaigning for a transition away from fossil fuels to protect culture, livelihoods, and marine ecosystems for future generations.

"The sicker the land or the country, the water, the air, the environment, the sicker the people are. The healthier the environment is, the healthier the people are."

Antonia Burke, First Nations woman from the Yanyuwa and Garrwa peoples in the Northern Territory and Director of Sea of Nations

"The sicker the land or the country, the water, the air, the environment, the sicker the people are. The healthier the environment is, the healthier the people are." said Antonia Burke. "What we are standing for is a right to say no."

Read more about Antonia's story and activism journey in her perspective piece.

Antonia is just one of the many human rights defenders showcased in the report. It includes stories from across the world which show what resistance, dignity and a people-powered just transition can look like when communities refuse to see their lands, waters and futures sacrificed for fossil fuel profits.

"Environmental defenders are protecting our shared future. Governments must listen to them, protect them and ensure they have a meaningful say in climate decisions," said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

"COP31 must deliver more than promises. Anything less would betray our shared responsibility to uphold human rights and secure climate justice."

"COP31 must deliver more than promises. Anything less would betray our shared responsibility to uphold human rights and secure climate justice."

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Across the world, Indigenous Peoples, environmental human rights defenders and communities on the front lines of the climate crisis are resisting fossil fuel expansion and fighting for fairer, more sustainable futures. Yet many face harassment, surveillance, criminalization, violence and restrictions on peaceful protest. Governments cannot deliver climate justice while excluding affected communities or silencing those who challenge harmful projects.

Australia and Fiji must ensure that civil society, Indigenous Peoples, affected communities and environmental defenders can participate, speak out and protest peacefully at Pre-COP without discrimination, intimidation or reprisals.

Based on Amnesty International's recommendations ahead of COP31, Australia and other governments must use pre-COP31 to advance three priorities:

1. Stop the climate crisis at its source by ending fossil fuel expansion and accelerating a full, fast, fair, funded and human rights-compliant transition away from fossil fuels with states most responsible going further and faster.

2. Support communities to thrive by ensuring the Just Transition Mechanism is operational and accountable and can help deliver funding and support to affected communities, including Indigenous Peoples.

3. Scale up finance from high income high emitting countries where it is needed most by significantly increasing public, grants-based funding for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage, without pushing lower-income countries further into debt.

Background

The Pacific-led pre-COP31 meetings will take place in Nadi, Fiji, and Tuvalu from 5 to 8 October 2026. COP31 will take place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026.

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