Authors: Marit Heppe, Rosa Jorba
In November 2025, the world will be looking at Belém do Pará, Brazil, as it hosts the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). For the first time in history, the climate summit will be held in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. All the more, Indigenous peoples will have a seat at the decision-making table. Expectations are running high, flushed with hopes that COP30 will mark a historic turning point in the global response to the climate crisis.
Ambitions and the Paris Agreement: COP30 as the Architect of a New Decade?
From November 10 to 21, government representatives, UN officials, scientists, and civil society from over 190 countries will gather and discuss global efforts to limit global warming.
The Action Agenda at COP30 highlights six thematic spaces that will determine the agenda of COP30: (1) energy, industry and transport, (2) forests, oceans and biodiversity, (3) agriculture and food systems, (4) cities, infrastructure and water, (5) human and social development, and (6) financing, technology and capacity building.
The central focus of COP30 will be placed upon the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and ways to strengthen global efforts to reach established targets. On a national scale, this will take form as new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), a task for national governments to submit a new national climate strategy. Moreover, the conference will pay attention to developing countries and ways to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change, as well as ways to provide financial support. Other key topics will relate to renewable energy technologies and low-carbon solutions, forests and biodiversity, and social impacts.
None of the themes above are new nor provide a distinct contrast against COP meetings of the past decade. Yet, COP30 has the potential to constitute a decisive juncture. With the Paris Agreement hitting its 10th anniversary, this Conference serves as a crucial moment in the fight against climate change to keep global temperature rise from reaching the ceiling of the 1.5ºC target. As the Brazilian Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, put during the final press conference of the Pre-COP:
“COP30 will be the COP that will inaugurate this period after the Paris Agreement, which is very challenging when we have an instrument that provided support for negotiations within the Framework of the Climate Change Convention for ten years. What will be the basis for the next ten years? Obviously, this is not built by Brazil alone, but we are aware that the construction begins with COP30.”
By the same token, holding COP30 in Amazonia is both symbolic and strategic. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest rainforest and a natural regulator of the climate, famously referred to as the Earth’s most powerful terrestrial carbon sink. Yet, at the same time, more than 85 million hectares of forest have already been lost to deforestation and high degradation, largely due to agricultural activity, climate change-induced fires, logging, mining, and construction plans. That number amounts to at least 13% of the Amazon’s total area.
“Keeping the Amazon alive means keeping the planet alive”.
The choice for hosting COP30 in Belém do Pará reveals that Amazonia can be the center for climate solutions. Indigenous stewardship, ecological knowledge, and spiritual connection to the land offer a perspective on how to live sustainably and in balance with nature. Indeed, Indigenous peoples are the ones taking care of the forests and conserving biodiversity more effectively than many state-protected areas. Therefore, including Indigenous voices and participation plays a key role in advancing towards stronger policies and commitments.
“Mutirão”: climate action through collective effort
The Brazilian presidency of COP30 has adopted the motto Mutirão, a Portuguese term rooted in Indigenous traditions that refers to collective effort. It reflects people uniting to solve shared problems through bottom-up and self-organizing mobilisation embedded within solidarity and cooperation. Addressing the climate crisis must include not only governments but also civil society, the private sector, and above all, Indigenous peoples.
Indigenous communities have strongly demanded to have a stronger role at COP30 in order to have an influence on the outcomes and secure recognition of Indigenous territories as essential to climate policy. According to Brazil’s minister for Indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara, the goal is to secure accreditation for at least 1,000 Indigenous people in the Blue Zone, the official space where negotiations between governments and international delegations take place. Indigenous groups are requesting direct access to climate finance, including the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund.
Juan Carlos Jintiach is an Indigenous leader and environmental defender. He is also the Executive Secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities and an advisor to Indigenous peoples in the international system. Jintiach highlights:
“Belém is part of the tropical areas in the rainforest. Belém is going to bring a lot of Indigenous people, local communities, and civil society. We want to make this different. It has to be open; it has to be transparent. We have to make Belém and the people connected.”
However, although there will be a distinct spotlight on Indigenous people and land, there are barriers to their level of participation. A major hindrance to participation is linked to the expenses tied to attending COP30, including costs of travel, accommodation, and food. Moreover, granted the credentials to enter the Blue Zone, Indigenous peoples’ participation comes to a grinding halt just in front of the negotiation sessions between Member States and heads of state. Lastly, Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council, Andrea Carmen, points out that there is concern over the intention of Indigenous inclusion; will COP30 take Indigenous voices seriously, or will the Conference simply put them on display?
Message to COP30: Nothing About Us Without Us
Limiting global warming in accordance with the Paris Agreement is urgent and imperative, but the well-being of the Earth does not rest on that alone. A just transition is what stands central to global restoration. Because a transition without justice, equity, and inclusivity is simply a rephrasing of an order cut from the same cloth.
As COP30 rapidly approaches, it is especially the defenders of the Earth—Indigenous peoples, vulnerable communities, and a fading rainforest—who not only brace themselves for the outcomes, but prepare to have their voice heard. As Indigenous women put forward during the National March of Indigenous Women:
“We are the guardians of the planet for the healing of the earth.”
The strategy towards innovative and urgent solutions within both national and global politics requires knowledge and inclusion. It is the Indigenous peoples in Brazil who hold the knowledge of Amazonia’s ecosystem. It is them who manage and protect 30% of the Amazon rainforest. Beyond Brazil, it is Indigenous peoples dispersed across the globe who hold guardianship over the world’s natural ecosystem. When discussing the future of the Earth, it is first and foremost them at the frontlines of climate change, directly vulnerable to yet key to resisting its impacts.
Only with their participation can climate solutions grow into collective, effective, and just actions that vigorously protect and preserve Indigenous lands and, consequently, global diversity. Therefore, the attendance of Indigenous peoples should go beyond the bounds of symbolism. COP30 must ensure that Indigenous peoples have a direct and active voice in all decisions that affect their territories and their lives, allowing for real impact on policies and actions. As in all matters of negotiations, and applicable to all: “nothing about us without us.”
The message of Indigenous peoples is clear: there will be no viable future without placing them at the center of climate decision-making. And for the sake of the Earth and all its inhabitants, COP30 in Belém do Pará must become a turning point.