CIVIL SOCIETY – COP30 President Pledges to Attend Cúpula dos Povos and Present Movements’ Declaration at the Conference
Popular movements coordinate proposals and demand meaningful participation in the climate conferenceAugust 12, 2025 – 6:00 PM, São Paulo (SP)By Editorial Team Em julho, o ato “Mutirão dos Povos” em frente ao Centro de Convenções de Belém, exigiu participação popular na COP30 – João Paulo Guimarães The president of the 30th UN Climate Conference (COP30), Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, confirmed that he will attend the Cúpula dos Povos on November 16, the closing day of the gathering that will bring together thousands of representatives from movements, networks, and popular organizations in Belém. The commitment includes reading the Declaration of the Peoples in the official plenary—a document consolidating guidelines and actions deemed essential by movements to tackle the climate crisis. The confirmation came during a meeting on Monday, August 11, between the Cúpula’s Political Commission and COP30 representatives. The meeting was attended by Lago, the conference’s executive director Ana Toni, and leaders from national and international organizations such as Via Campesina, the Federation of Social and Educational Assistance Organizations (Fase), the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network (Repam), the Brazilian Committee of Human Rights Defenders, the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, Friends of the Earth International, and the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB). COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago and Executive Director Ana Toni during a meeting with the Cúpula dos Povos Political Commission (Photo: Cúpula dos Povos/Disclosure) President Corrêa do Lago recognized the Cúpula as a legitimate space for popular movement coordination and advocated that the proposals discussed be incorporated into the official agenda. He suggested expanding integration with the conference’s action agenda and dialogue channels to include the accumulated debates and experiences of the parallel event. In addition to delivering the declaration, the organizations presented demands related to the effective participation of their leaders in official spaces, including the distribution of credentials to grassroots entities. They also requested guarantees for freedom of expression during the conference, particularly for acts in solidarity with the Palestinian people, which have faced restrictions in previous editions. The Declaration of the Peoples will be built around six thematic axes, including just transition, combating environmental racism, defending cities and vibrant peripheries, popular and food sovereignty, as well as popular feminism and women’s resistance in the territories. The Cúpula dos Povos will take place from November 12 to 16 on the campus of the Federal University of Pará, in parallel with COP30, scheduled from November 10 to 21. Edited by: Thalita Pires REPRODUÇÃO JORNAL BRASIL DE FATO
COP30 – People’s Summit fights for climate justice
Social Movements and Traditional Communities Organize Parallel Space to the Global Climate Conference in the Amazon Jesuan XavierJune 11, 2025 With the world’s eyes on Belém (PA), host of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (Conference of the Parties), COP30, taking place in November 2025, social movements, Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, riverine communities, peasants, and urban peripheral populations are organizing to break through the barrier of official negotiations and gain greater protagonism in the main international gathering on the global climate crisis. Since 2023, leaders of the so-called “excluded” have been meeting periodically to organize a space that will operate in the same location and in parallel with COP30, from November 12 to 16: the People’s Summit for Climate Justice. The organizers expect to gather around 20,000 people in this space, which will feature political, cultural, and spiritual programming. The highlight will be on November 15, with a large international mobilization planned to amplify the voices of the territories. In February 2025, social and environmental leaders from 16 countries, including France, the Philippines, Kenya, South Africa, Togo, and Ecuador, met in Rio de Janeiro for a series of preparatory meetings. The goal was to advance the construction of an agenda reflecting the realities of rural areas, forests, and urban peripheries worldwide. Speaking to Radis, Araê Cupim, member of the Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining (MAM) and of the People’s Summit political commission, stated that the parallel event “is indeed a space of resistance, but also of proposals. It is a response to the systematic exclusion of populations most affected by climate change.” He acknowledges the importance of the COP, but does not hold back criticism of its structure and model. “The COP is not made by us, nor for us. The negotiations are more concerned with facilitating the carbon market than listening to those truly affected by the climate crisis,” he says. “The COP is not made by us, nor for us. The negotiations are more concerned with facilitating the carbon market than listening to those truly affected by the climate crisis.”Araê Cupim March during the Free Land Camp (ATL) in Brasília (April 10) advocating for Indigenous peoples’ participation in COP30 — Photo: Juliana Duarte Climate Injustices In August 2024, around 600 organizations signed and published the People’s Summit Political Charter (https://cupuladospovoscop30.org/manifesto/). “Real solutions are urgent, and civil society worldwide must be a protagonist in all debate spaces on this agenda. COP30 needs to represent a turning point in this scenario and address the necessary actions to confront the climate crisis,” demands the document. This is not the first time COP organizers have faced a parallel space of resistance and demands. Similar initiatives occurred during Rio+20 (2012). The People’s Summit has established itself as an alternative space for critique and proposals, present in nearly all World Climate Conferences. In November, representatives of social movements and traditional populations will discuss proposals to tackle climate challenges with justice, focusing on the realities of the territories, popular sovereignty, and well-being. Over the past two years, numerous debates, meetings, and plenaries have defined four main work axes: water, territory and people’s sovereignty; climate justice; just, popular, and inclusive transition; and youth, children, adolescents, women, and LGBTQIAPN+ diversities at the center of decision-making. Currently, the People’s Summit aims to pressure and convince the Brazilian government to lead the proposal of bolder global temperature reduction targets. Since its launch at the end of 2024, the Political Charter has been delivered to the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the National Operative Secretariat of COP30 (Secop), and to executive and legislative representatives. The proposals include agrarian and urban reform, incentives for a solidarity economy, protection of traditional populations, and the fight against environmental and structural racism. “Extreme climate events, droughts, floods, landslides, and false climate solutions serve to deepen inequality and environmental and climate injustices, particularly in the territories, cruelly affecting those who contributed least to the climate, ecological, and civilizational crisis,” the document states. Indigenous peoples gathered at the ATL emphasize that land demarcation and the protagonism of traditional populations should be a priority in climate and environmental debates — Photos: Juliana Duarte Living Without Destroying The Summit also advocates a zero-deforestation policy and greater accountability for large corporations. Araê expresses additional concern about the current debate on a “just energy transition.” To him, the term merely masks a continuation of extractivist logic. “We don’t believe in this proposed transition. It doesn’t change the way nature is exploited, it only intensifies it. What is at stake is justifying accumulation and the expansion of capitalism with new mineral resources,” he stresses. Another organizer, Eduardo Soares, Secretary of Articulation of the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network (Repam), tells Radis that representatives of religious communities will also participate actively. He is part of the Inter-Religious Tapiri, which brings together churches, ecumenical organizations, terreiro communities, Indigenous spiritualities, and other faith traditions in Brazil. “It is an ecumenical articulation that will also be present at the People’s Summit. We will discuss religious fundamentalism and defend freedom of expression and worship.” Eduardo believes it will be a unique opportunity to show the world that it is possible to live without destroying. “Our spirituality, our way of living, our relationship with the forest, the river, and other living beings—all this is part of an integral ecology. It’s not just about reducing carbon, but changing the logic that destroys,” he asserts. For him, the People’s Summit expresses territorial resistance to false market solutions. “It is a space where real life, thriving in communities, gains voice and proposes pathways,” he points out. Genuine Participation of the Territories Eduardo emphasizes the importance of this autonomous civil society space, committed to realities lived in the territories. “The Summit is born from the demands of the territories, not in a vertical way but horizontally, where communities and peoples can express impacts often caused by large corporations. Impacts that, within the COPs, are often distorted,” he argues. “Voices arise from the territories. The affected populations must
MEETING IN BELÉM – Traditional Peoples from Brazil and Abroad Demand Protagonism in COP30 and the Fight Against Climate Change
MEETING IN BELÉMTraditional Peoples from Brazil and Abroad Demand Protagonism in COP30 and the Fight Against Climate Change Over 70 Organizations Gather in Belém to Reaffirm the Protagonism of Amazonian PeoplesMay 31, 2025, 3:03 PMUpdated June 24, 2025, 2:11 PMBelém (Pará)Mariana Castro Over 70 organizations gather in Belém to reaffirm the protagonism of Amazonian peoples – Photo: Caetano Scannavino On Friday (May 30), representatives of more than 70 popular movements, organizations, and traditional peoples from 13 countries gathered in a political action held in Belém, where it was officially announced that the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) will serve as the central venue for the People’s Summit discussions during COP30. The event emphasizes the demand that Amazonian peoples be the true protagonists of the climate struggle, through listening, dialogue, and the proposal of public policies that consider traditional knowledge and lived experiences. Under the theme “From the Amazon to the World: Climate Justice Now!”, peoples from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe proclaim: there is no solution to the climate crisis that does not originate with and involve Indigenous and traditional peoples. Representing Indigenous peoples of Brazil, Auricélia Arapiun, an Indigenous leader from Baixo Tapajós (PA) and member of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), participated in the event. “The answer is us, who have long been saying that we have the solution. If they had the solution, we would not be heading toward the end of the world, as we are today. On the contrary, at every COP the situation only worsens because we are not inside, we are not heard, and we will not be,” emphasized Auricélia. During her speech, Auricélia strongly highlighted regressive actions by the National Congress, such as the approval of Bill 2159/2021, popularly known as the “Devastation Bill,” which establishes a new framework for environmental licensing in Brazil to the detriment of traditional peoples’ rights. “What kind of COP30 do we want for Brazil if the National Congress is attacking our territories, attacking the environment, if the Devastation Bill is advancing, destroying our lands? Have they approved the regressive bill on Indigenous land demarcation? It is unacceptable that we are heading in this direction while Brazil and the Pará government position themselves as leaders in tackling the climate crisis,” Auricélia denounced. The launch of the People’s Summit territory marks the UFPA public space to reaffirm ancestral, community, and popular practices as concrete and viable paths to address the climate crisis with social justice. “This Summit plays a fundamental role in popularizing and involving the people, placing them at the center of debates, engaging them in the climate discussion, and proposing—through their concrete and real practices—the transformation of this world that belongs to everyone. And we are saying that popular participation is necessary, so that COP, the Summit, and the Brazilian government demonstrate, in fact, a commitment to change,” explained Pablo Neri, from the national leadership of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST). People’s Summit Goes Beyond COP30 The event is part of a four-day agenda that consolidates collective strategies for the main event in November, when the Summit expects to gather around 15,000 people in Belém for an extensive program, including the participation of over 700 organizations and social networks. However, organizations emphasize that COP30 does not conclude the collective construction of the People’s Summit, which goes beyond pre-determined calendars and aims to be a space ensuring ongoing and internationalist dialogue and struggle in defense of the Amazon, its peoples, and territories. As part of the internationalist delegation, Sophie Ogutu, from Nairobi, Kenya, and member of the International Committee of the World March of Women, emphasized the importance of this space dedicated to the peoples. “Solutions for the world will never come with a pen stroke. We are here, and we have the solutions. I am very grateful to be here at the University of Pará, in this space that was given to us. And look, back in Kenya, everyone says that of all the COPs, they would most like to be at this one in Brazil, because here we have a voice, here you make space for everyone,” assured Sophie. Firmly, Denisse Chavez highlights women’s protagonism in the struggle for climate justice. Photo: Thaigon Arapiun From Peru, activist and feminist Denisse Chavez, from the group Mujeres y Cambio Climático (GIMCC), reiterates that the struggle for climate justice is inseparable from the fight for justice in all its forms. “We continue this struggle and will persist to leave a better world for our daughters and granddaughters. And we will only achieve this by demanding climate justice, gender justice, and environmental justice for all men, women, and diverse communities,” she emphasized. People’s Summit Since 1992, the People’s Summit has been a cry for resistance and justice through an autonomous space where communities most affected by the climate crisis—such as Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional communities, and urban periphery residents—join forces to amplify their voices and demands. In November 2025, Brazil will host the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30). In this context, over 700 organizations, networks, and collectives have joined to build a broad mobilization process so that COP in Brazil becomes a turning point in climate crisis discussions. Edited by: Rodrigo Durão Coelho Reproduction from Brasil de Fato