COP31, Antalya (Türkiye), 9 November - 20 November 2026

BEPSII at COP31

BEPSII and ASPeCt (Aspectsouth.org) will host two interactive events at the Cryosphere Pavilion at COP31 in Antalya.

Sea Ice Reality Check: True or False? Ask the Experts

19 November 2026 18:00 | Cryosphere Pavilion | Live stream (link will be shared here)

Can sea ice come back? What happens to polar bears and penguins as sea ice declines? What happens if we overshoot 1.5°C?

Ahead of COP31, we are collecting questions from the general public about Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Selected questions will be answered by sea ice experts during the event. 

Submit your question anonymously by 3 November:
tinyurl.com/SeaIceRealityCheckCOP31

The questionnaire takes 2 minutes and is available in 8 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese.

Please help us reach beyond the scientific community by sharing it with friends, family, students and wider networks.

Five-Year Pledges, Thousand-Year Consequences

19 November 2026 19:30 | Cryosphere Pavilion | Live stream (link will be shared here)

Our second COP31 event will explore whether current climate governance is equipped to deal with cryosphere changes whose consequences may last for centuries or millennia.

A short Cryosphere Governance Stress Test will collect views from COP31 participants during week 2. The results will then be used to launch an interactive discussion on overshoot, reversibility, long-term cryosphere risks and the mismatch between political and environmental timescales.

The event builds on the paper Governing cryospheric risk beyond political timeframes by Tedesco et al., currently in press at Nature Communications.