During a visit to the capital of Pará, the Subcommittee of the Chamber of Deputies for COP30 (SUBCOP) met with representatives of the People’s Summit and social movements to discuss the importance of popular participation in the climate conference that Brazil will host in November in Belém. The meeting was marked by calls for greater support for civil society and recognition that there can be no climate justice without the voices of the peoples of the Amazon.
Federal Deputy Duda Salabert (PDT/MG), president of SUBCOP, emphasized that Brazil has the opportunity to transform the meaning of the United Nations Climate Conference. “A major concern of COPs in Brazil and of recent COPs has been how to expand popular participation. I am certain that this COP in Brazil will redefine what a COP is. With the People’s Summit, we will be able to organize large mobilizations. There is no climate justice without popular participation. Our role is to build bridges between the parliament, social movements, and the executive branch,” she stated.
She reinforced that the commission will demand from the federal and state governments better reception conditions for social movements and real spaces for influence in decision-making.
Deputy Bandeira de Mello (PSB-RJ) also highlighted practical challenges that have yet to be resolved in Belém. “I see that COP still faces survival issues. After lunch with the governor, the topic started to be discussed, but it ended up being shifted. It’s not just a question of accommodation,” he said, pointing out that structural problems such as transportation, logistics, and the hosting of delegations and social movements still require urgent solutions.
For Bruna Balbi, representative of Terra de Direitos, history shows that the greatest advances in climate negotiations occurred when society was mobilized. “With popular participation, agendas move forward. The last COP where we achieved significant progress was the Paris Agreement, and this only happened because there was a strong social mobilization. The text approved was very important and remains a reference today, but we have not been able to implement the words contained in the Agreement. That is why we need to move beyond it,” she assessed.
Balbi highlighted that COP30 faces the challenge of being the conference of implementation. “The federal government is right when it says that this needs to be the COP of implementation. It is the moment for a paradigmatic shift. Social movements have been discussing this need for years, even before many governments realized it, and now is the time to take this step,” she added.
Júlia Martins, from the Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining (MAM), emphasized that the People’s Summit cannot be treated as a secondary or merely symbolic space. “This space cannot be seen just as a ballroom. It needs to be considered a sacred space, because nature is sacred to us as well. A climate event is not just a meeting of NGOs or companies negotiating their next profits, but a space to articulate the people’s solutions for life. It is a defense of democracy,” she stated.
The activist also warned about the political risks surrounding the process. “A climate event is an opportunity to affirm that dictatorships and fascist processes, which are not far from us, may try to seize power if we are careless. That is why we need to ensure that this space is occupied by society, with strength and responsibility,” she added.
Deputy Isa Arruda (MDB) recalled the significance of holding COP in the Amazon, the stage of the planet’s main socio-environmental disputes. “Here we have the forest, the rivers, and the people. It is very important that this meeting produces a final document defending the environment and sustainability, including, centrally, the agenda of women,” she declared.
The meeting was considered productive by both parliamentarians and representatives of the People’s Summit, who see in the COP30 process a historic opportunity to place the Amazon and its peoples at the center of global climate decisions.
