UBC student observer Makenna Vanegas will give GTEC readers an inside look at COP31, November 9-20, 2026 in Antalya, Turkey.
Makenna Vanegas is a B.Sc. Nutritional Sciences student in the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems. In addition to her academic pursuits, she has contributed to sustainability and community environmental education initiatives through grant writing and project work, earning the UBC Sustainability Hub’s Catalyst: Lead Certificate in 2026.
As a Nutritional Sciences student interested in medicinal plants, she sees environmental protection as protecting medicine itself, believing that our capacity to heal is rooted in ecosystems we risk losing before we have fully understood the ways in which they sustain us. As a virtual observer at COP31, Makenna will focus on how climate negotiations safeguard these ecosystems and how human health research can inform policy decisions.
Learn more about COP and what to expect from COP31 in GTEC’s COP Primer.
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COP31 image credit: UN Climate Change, flickr, cropped image of ‘COP31 Press Conference_12Feb26_COP31 Presidency17’