[Photo: Supplied]

Nearly 2,000 participants are expected to attend next week’s Pre-COP meeting in Nadi, Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Dr Sivendra Michael said in a press briefing on Monday.

Dr Michael’s remarks follow previous criticism regarding a possible low turnout for those that will be attending the meeting in Nadi.

Permanent Michael says 1,817 participants have already registered for the event, with around 550 expected to take part in the stakeholder programme at the Sheraton.

He says participation has increased significantly since Fiji last led the Pre-COP in 2017, which has reflected greater engagement in climate-related discussions.

“When we had the Pre-COP in 2017, the previous administration would tell you we had only a select few leaders, obviously; we invited them, but the participation rate was really low because the Paris Agreement just came into force in 2015, and Fiji being the first country to ratify it was also a moment of leadership for us in 2017, but maybe give or take, with and without the workforce, we would’ve been around 500 people who attended. This year’s PreCOP right now this morning stakeholder programme, we’ve got 1817 registered participants with about 550 in the red zone, which is in the Sheraton, so it speaks of the journey we have had and the interest of the stakeholders coming to the table to talk about the issues given a greater realization of the impact of climate change.”

Dr Michael says the growing attendance is also evident in the diversity of groups seeking to contribute to climate discussions.

“We started in a point where a lot of people didn’t want to come to the table and discuss. Now we have a plethora of stakeholders that want to be on the table to see what solutions they can offer or what solutions they can drive.”

The Pre-COP programme will run from Monday to Thursday, with events coordinated across Nadi and Tuvalu, and the meeting will bring together world leaders, climate negotiators and stakeholders ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.