Fund life, not war, leaders tell UN climate summit

ANTALYA, Turkey (AFP) — With conflicts and defense spending surging worldwide, several leaders and environmental groups on Wednesday urged heads of state at the United Nations (UN) climate summit to redirect funds from wars to saving the planet.

“We are told there is no money, but the spending on war grows,” said Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, whose country is among the most vulnerable to rising sea levels.

“The greatest security threat we face remains underfunded. I appeal to you: find money for life, not death,” she told the COP31 conference in Turkey.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has presided over a sharp drop in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, said climate change had “disappeared” from the global agenda.

“We’ve turned to talking more about arms and tariffs than the survival of future generations,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan echoed the warning.

“Nature — no less than people — is also paying a heavy price for armed conflicts. The starkest example of this is Gaza,” he told the summit in the Mediterranean city of Antalya.

With wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere and geopolitical volatility spurring widespread rearmament, global defense spending hit nearly $3 trillion in 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga summed up the environmental impact of his country’s war, from “poisoned soil” to deforestation and birds building nests from drones’ fiber-optic cables.