Turkish environmental foundation to mobilize over 16,000 volunteers after COP31

Volunteer campaign after COP31

The Cemre Foundation, a Turkish environmental foundation, plans to use more than 16,000 volunteers in a nationwide campaign that will carry COP31 climate summit outcomes to local communities, chairman Furkan Gokgoz said.

Speaking to Anadolu at the UN climate summit in Antalya, Gokgoz said the initiative would reach communities after COP31. “We aim to go door to door, street by street and neighborhood by neighborhood after COP31 to raise awareness,” he said.

Climate action in communities

Gokgoz said the foundation had spent a long time preparing for the summit, while volunteers presented its activities and informed visitors about Türkiye’s 2053 net-zero emissions target, marine conservation and efforts to combat climate change.

He stressed that summit outcomes needed to be implemented locally and said the foundation was committed to turning discussions into concrete action. “We are not just explaining our vision and mission; we are also telling people that we will work with our volunteers to implement the outcomes of this summit on the ground,” Gokgoz said.

Gokgoz invited the public to join the volunteer network, saying climate change was already affecting daily life. “Climate change is now at our doorstep. We are experiencing problems where every rainfall turns into flooding and every sunny period into drought,” he said. The foundation also combines environmental education with disaster preparedness by training search-and-rescue teams and organizing nature camps for volunteers, many of them university students.

Green Zone brings climate talks to public

Gokgoz described COP31’s public Green Zone as important for civil society organizations because it allowed them to explain climate negotiations and proposed solutions to citizens. He said raising awareness and making the area accessible to the public had been among the foundation’s priorities from the outset.

“We made it our mission to bring the workshops and discussions in the Blue Zone to the public. The interest has been far greater than we expected. Civil society organizations also serve as a bridge in this regard,” he said.

Focus shifts toward implementation

Gokgoz said strong attendance in both zones from the summit’s opening day suggested that Türkiye was making progress toward its ambition to host one of the most widely attended COP gatherings. “We see that not only academics and delegates but also ordinary citizens are taking part. I believe this is important for the COP to achieve its objectives,” he said.

He said COP31 should move beyond discussions of climate commitments and accelerate implementation. “Everything that needed to be said about the environment has already been said. We are now witnessing the beginning of a COP focused on taking action,” Gokgoz said, adding that continued strong participation could make COP31 more impactful than previous summits.