Antalya, Turkey · 9 November 2026
The Natural Resource Women Platform (NRWP) of Liberia is participating in the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), taking place in Antalya, Turkey, from 9 to 20 November 2026. We come with one question for world leaders: what will COP31 deliver for the rural women who feed our communities and protect our land, forests, and water?
For years, the women we work with have heard promises made during climate negotiations. They are still waiting for those promises to reach their farms, villages, and families. COP31 must be the moment when commitments translate into delivery.
What is at stake in Antalya
Climate finance. At COP29 in Baku, countries agreed to a new climate finance goal of at least $300 billion per year. At COP31, developing countries are asking how and when this money will flow and to whom. Finance must be new, predictable, and mostly grant-based. Countries already suffering climate shocks cannot borrow their way to resilience. Finance must also be transparent, from pledge to disbursement to impact, and gender-responsive at every step.
Adaptation. At COP30 in Belém, countries committed to at least tripling adaptation finance by 2035 and adopted indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation. COP31 must set a clear path to deliver on this commitment. Adaptation finance should reach the people who are adapting every day, not stop in national capitals or with large intermediaries.
Loss and damage. The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage must be fully resourced with grants, not loans, and its funding must be simple for community-based and women-led organizations to access. For many families, the harvests, homes and livelihoods already lost to climate change will never return.
Evidence from Liberia: From Fields to Frontlines
On 3 November 2026, NRWP launched its new report, From Fields to Frontlines, based on a survey of 124 smallholder farmers, 115 of whom were women, in Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Margibi, Grand Bassa, Nimba, and Bong counties. The women told us:
- 93% say climate change has worsened their food security, and 87% have lost livelihoods to climate impacts.
- 83% report crops damaged by pests, and 81% have less clean, fresh water.
- 90% both eat and sell what they grow, so a failed harvest hits food, school fees and the next planting season at once.
- Only 7 of 123 use improved seed, and 71 of 73 asked had never heard of carbon markets.
- 59% farm together through Koo labor-sharing groups, but only 14% belong to a formal cooperative.
The report shows that rural women are already adapting to climate change, often using their own savings, labor, and knowledge, with little or no outside support. They are on the front lines of adaptation in Liberia. Yet they remain largely invisible in climate finance decisions. Liberia’s NDC 3.0 promises that at least 20 percent of grant-based climate finance will be accessible to women’s cooperatives, but most women organize through informal Koo groups, so finance designed only for registered bodies will miss them. While carbon markets are promoted as a source of climate finance, almost none of the farmers we surveyed know what they are.
The evidence is clear: adaptation and climate finance will succeed only if they reach women farmers directly.
Read the full report: From Fields to Frontlines
Our calls to COP31
NRWP calls on Parties at COP31 to:
- Deliver adaptation finance directly to rural women through simple, accessible funding windows for community-based and women-led organizations.
- Make climate finance gender-responsive, transparent, and grant-based, with public tracking from pledge to impact.
- Fully resource the Loss and Damage Fund, with grants that frontline communities can access without heavy bureaucracy.
- Implement the Belém Gender Action Plan with dedicated funding, clear targets, and the meaningful participation of grassroots women.
- Protect women land and environmental defenders, who face growing risks for defending their land, forests and communities.
- Support alternative livelihoods that help women build resilience while safeguarding the natural resources they depend on.
NRWP at COP31
NRWP is participating in COP31 in Antalya. Throughout the conference, we will share the findings of From Fields to Frontlines, take part in sessions on gender, adaptation and climate finance, and stand with African women’s movements calling for climate justice.
We welcome partners, journalists, and funders who want to learn more about our work or support women farmers in Liberia to connect with us during and after COP31.
No promises without delivery. No climate justice without women.
About NRWP
The Natural Resource Women Platform (NRWP) is a Liberian movement building network that advances rural women’s rights to land, forests, and natural resources and amplifies their voices in climate and environmental decision-making. NRWP is a member of ESCR-Net, the WoMin African Alliance, and the African Women Climate Assembly, where it serves on the Steering Committee.
Media contact: Radiatu H. S. Kahnplaye, Lead Coordinator / Policy Advisor, NRWP · nrwomenplatform@gmail.com · 0777 006 089 / 0888 312 250