Pacific islanders decried on Thursday a wasted chance to draw eyes to their climate troubles, after their bid to co-host next year's COP climate summit was brushed aside.

Australia had sought to co-host the UN's top climate conference alongside South Pacific neighbours gravely threatened by rising oceans, parching droughts and acidifying seas.

But despite an intense lobbying campaign waged over the past 12 months, Australia unexpectedly ditched its bid at the last minute to hand hosting rights to Turkey.

"We are all not happy. And disappointed it's ended up like this," Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told AFP after Australia announced it would back down.

Instead, Tkatchenko said Pacific islands were once again let down by the bureaucratic COP machinery.

"What has C

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