The Peoples’ Summit Towards COP 30 is preparing to hold its activities from November 12 to 16 in Belém (PA), an Amazonian city in northern Brazil, running parallel to the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference. November 15 will be dedicated to a global mobilization action. The event is expected to bring together around 15,000 people in an autonomous space to discuss measures to address the climate crisis from the perspective of traditional peoples, social movements, and organizations with a long-standing history of working in harmony with Brazil’s diverse biomes.
As part of the mobilization agenda, the first week of February was dedicated to a series of meetings and gatherings in Rio de Janeiro, with social and environmental leaders from 16 countries, including France, the Philippines, Kenya, South Africa, Togo, and Ecuador. These meetings defined the direction for international advocacy, a common calendar of discussions over the coming months, and the joint programming of the Summit.
“We were able to make significant progress both in our organization and in discussing our priority agendas—regarding rural areas, forests, and also cities and peripheries, which are the most affected by climate change. It is from these territories that we want to build solutions for our country and for our planet,” explains Julia Nascimento, coordinator of the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST).
Through the Peoples’ Summit, Brazil resumes its tradition of hosting major international gatherings and heads of state as part of civil society-led mobilization processes, such as the Global Forum during Eco 92, the Peoples’ Summit during Rio+20 in 2012, the Social Forums, and the Peoples’ Summit in response to the G20 in 2023.
Around 546 Brazilian and international organizations have already signed the Peoples’ Summit Manifesto. The goal is to further strengthen the struggle through intensified coordination and discussions in the coming months, supporting the agendas of social movements and organizations engaged in climate issues, as well as longstanding advocacy campaigns.
For Thuane Nascimento, known as Thux, from Perifa Connection and the Black Coalition for Rights, this coordination will be crucial for empowering civil society from Brazil. “The Summit will be a very important space to mobilize social struggles in Brazil—not only the climate movements but the entire struggle for all Brazilian people,” she notes.
“The Summit is important for all Brazilian people. First, it helps to popularize a space that is so distant and elitist in our daily lives—the COP—which should not be that way, because all the topics discussed at the Conferences of the Parties on Climate Change directly affect our daily lives, whether through extreme heat or floods,” she adds.
Eduardo Giesen, coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean at Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) from Chile, highlights that the discussions should foster unity in pursuing effective actions. “Often, we remain only in resistance against fascism, climate change, and false solutions. We need to be able to provide tools, demonstrate unity, and build convergence for achievable change,” he asserts.
Dialogue with the Federal Government
During the Rio meetings, one of the key points discussed was dialogue with the federal government, which is responsible for presiding over and organizing the Conference. “It is very important that we signal to the federal government, the COP 30 commission, and the UNFCCC the dialogue we want as civil society—not only from Brazil but globally. An effective participation,” explains Alana Manchineri from the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB).
Francisco Kelvim, from the national coordination of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), adds that this dialogue occurs from a perspective of respect but independence. “The Summit is an autonomous space that emerges from insurgency and a demand to be heard and considered in decision-making—not only on climate issues. The main way to push for this is through mobilization, and this will be our strategy,” he says.
