Thousands March in Brazil Town Hosting COP30 for Climate Justice

November 16, 2025

Indigenous-led protest in Belem urges climate action, fossil fuel phase-out and justice for affected communities.

Tens of thousands of people have thronged the streets of an Amazonian city hosting the COP30 talks, dancing to pounding speakers in the first large-scale protest at a United Nations climate summit in years.

As the first week of climate negotiations limped to a close with nations deadlocked, Indigenous people and activists sang, chanted, and rolled a giant beach ball of Earth through Belem under a searing sun.

Others held a mock funeral procession for fossil fuels, dressed in black and posing as grieving widows as they carried three coffins marked with the words “coal”, “oil” and “gas”.

It was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow, as the last three gatherings had been held in locations with little tolerance for demonstrations – Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan.

Called the “Great People’s March” by the organisers, the Belem rally came at the halfway point of difficult negotiations and followed two Indigenous-led protests that disrupted proceedings earlier in the week.

“Today we are witnessing a massacre as our forest is being destroyed,” said Benedito Huni Kuin, a 50-year-old member of the Huni Kuin Indigenous group from western Brazil.

“We want to make our voices heard from the Amazon and demand results,” he added. “We need more Indigenous representatives at COP to defend our rights.”

Their demands include “reparations” for damages caused by corporations and governments, particularly to marginalised communities.

 

After a 4.5km (2.8-mile) march through the city, the demonstration halted a few blocks from the COP30 venue, where authorities deployed soldiers to protect the site.

Inside the venue, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago admitted that the first exhaustive week of negotiations had failed to yield a breakthrough and urged diplomats not to run down the clock with time-wasting manoeuvres.

Countries remained at odds over trade measures and weak climate targets, while a showdown looms over demands that wealthy nations triple the finance they provide to poorer states to adapt to a warming world.

 

Source: Al Jazeera

 DECLARATION OF THE PEOPLES’ SUMMIT TOWARDS COP30

We, the Peoples’ Summit, gathered in Belém do Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon, from November 12 to 16, 2025, declare to the peoples of the world what we have accumulated in struggles, debates, studies, exchanges of experiences, cultural activities, and testimonies over several months of preparation and during these days gathered here.

Our process brought together more than 70,000 people who make up local, national, and international movements of indigenous and traditional peoples, peasants, indigenous peoples, quilombolas, fishermen, extractivists, shellfish gatherers, city workers, trade unionists, homeless people,babassu coconut breakers, terreiro peoples, women, the LGBTQIAPN+ community, young people, people of African descent, the elderly, forest peoples, rural peoples,
homeless people, babassu coconut breakers, terreiro peoples, women, the LGBTQIAPN+ community, young people, Afro-descendants, elderly people, people from the forest, the countryside, the peripheries, the seas, rivers, lakes, and mangroves. We have taken on the task of building a just and
democratic world, with good living for all. We are unity in diversity.

The advance of the extreme right, fascism, and wars around the world exacerbates the climate crisis and the exploitation of nature and peoples. The countries of the global north, transnational corporations , and the ruling classes are primarily responsible for these crises. We salute the resistance and stand in solidarity with all peoples who are being cruelly attacked and threatened by the forces of the US empire, Israel, and their allies in Europe. For more than 80 years, the Palestinian people have been victims of genocide perpetrated by the Zionist state of Israel, whichhas bombed the Gaza Strip, forcibly displaced millions of people, and killed tens of thousands of innocent people, mostly children, women, and the elderly. We totally repudiate the genocide committed against Palestine. We offer our support and solidarity to the people who bravely resist, and to theBoycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

At the same time, in the Caribbean Sea, the United States is intensifying its imperial presence. It is doing so by expanding joint operations, agreements, and military bases, in collusion with the extreme right, under the pretext of combating drug trafficking and terrorism, as with the recently
announced “Southern Spear” operation. Imperialism continues to threaten the sovereignty of peoples, criminalizing social movements and legitimizing interventions that have historically served private interests in the region. We stand in solidarity with the resistance of Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, El Salvador, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, and with the projects of
emancipation of the peoples of the Sahel, Nepal, and around the world.

There is no life without nature. There is no life without ethics and care work. That is why feminism is central to our political project. We place the work of reproducing life at the center, which is what radically differentiates us from those who want to preserve the logic and dynamics of
an economic system that prioritizes profit and the private accumulation of wealth. Our worldview is guided by popular internationalism, with exchanges of
knowledge and wisdom that build bonds of solidarity, struggle, and cooperation among our peoples. True solutions are strengthened by this exchange of experiences, developed in our territories and by many hands. We are committed to stimulating, convening, and strengthening these constructions. Therefore, we welcome the announcement of the construction of the International Movement of People Affected by Dams, Socio-Environmental Crimes, and the Climate Crisis.

We began our People’s Summit by navigating the rivers of the Amazon, which, with their waters, nourish the entire body. Like blood, they sustain life and feed a sea of encounters andhopes. We also recognize the presence of enchanted beings and other fundamental beings in the worldview of indigenous and traditional peoples, whose spiritual strength guides paths, protects territories, and inspires struggles for life, memory, and a world of good living.

After more than two years of collective construction and holding the People’s Summit,
we affirm:
1. The capitalist mode of production is the main cause of the growing climate crisis. The main environmental problems of our time are a consequence of the relations of production, circulation, and disposal of goods, under the logic and domination of financial capital and large
capitalist corporations.

2. Peripheral communities are the most affected by extreme weather events and environmental racism. On the one hand, they face a lack of infrastructure and adaptation policies. On the other hand, they face a lack of justice and reparations, especially for women, youth, impoverished people, and people of color.

3. Transnational corporations, in collusion with governments in the global North, are at the center of power in the capitalist, racist, and patriarchal system, and are the actors that cause and benefit most from the multiple crises we face. The mining, energy, arms, agribusiness, and Big Tech industries are primarily responsible for the climatecatastrophe we are experiencing.

4. We oppose any false solution to the climate crisis that perpetuates harmful practices, creates unpredictable risks, and diverts attention from transformative solutions based on climate and people’s justice in all biomes and ecosystems. We warn that the TFFF, being a financialized program, is not an adequate response. All financial projects must be subject to criteria of transparency, democratic access, participation, and real benefit to the affected populations.

5. The failure of the current model of multilateralism is evident. Environmental crimes and extreme weather events that cause death and destruction are increasingly common. This demonstrates the failure of the countless global conferences and meetings that promised to solve these problems but never addressed their structural causes.

6. The energy transition is being implemented under capitalist logic. Despite the expansion of renewable sources, there has been no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The expansion of energy production sources has also become a new space for capital accumulation.

7. Finally, we affirm that the privatization, commodification, and financialization of common goods and public services are directly contrary to the interests of the people. In this context, laws, state institutions, and the vast majority of governments have been captured, shaped, and subordinated to the pursuit of maximum profit by financial capital and transnational corporations. Public policies are needed to advance the recovery of states and confront privatization.

In the face of these challenges, we propose:

1. Confronting false market solutions. Air, forests, water, land, minerals, and energy sources cannot remain private property or be appropriated
because they are common goods of the people.

2. We demand the participation and leadership of peoples in the construction of climate solutions, recognizing ancestral knowledge. The multi-diversity of cultures and worldviews carries ancestral wisdom and knowledge that states must recognize as references for solutions to the multiple crises that plague humanity and Mother Nature.

3. We demand the demarcation and protection of the lands and territories of indigenous peoples and other local peoples and communities, since they are the ones who guarantee the living forest. We demand from governments zero deforestation, an end to criminal burning, and state policies for ecological restoration and recovery of degraded areas affected by the climate crisis.

4. We demand the implementation of popular agrarian reform and the promotion of agroecology to guarantee food sovereignty and combat land concentration. Peoples produce healthy food, and we demand that this be recognized as a fundamental right.

5. We demand the implementation of popular agrarian reform and the promotion of agroecology to guarantee food sovereignty and combat land concentration. Peoples produce healthy food, and we demand that this be recognized as a fundamental right.

6. We advocate direct consultation, participation, and popular management of climate policies in cities to confront real estate corporations that have advanced the commodification of urban life. The city of climate and energy transition should be a city without segregation that embraces diversity. Finally, climate financing should be conditional on protocols that aim at housing permanence and, ultimately, fair compensation for people and communities with guaranteed land and housing, both in rural areas and in cities.

7. We demand an end to wars and demilitarization. That all financial resources allocated to wars and the war industry be redirected to the transformation of this world. That military spending be directed towards the repair and recovery of regions affected by climate disasters. That all necessary measures be taken to prevent and put pressure on Israel, holding it accountable for the genocide committed against the Palestinian people.

8. We demand fair and full compensation for the losses and damages imposed on peoples by destructive investment projects, dams, mining, fossil fuel extraction, and climate disasters. We also demand that those guilty of economic and socio-environmental crimes that affect millions of communities and families around the world be tried and punished.

9. The work of reproducing life must be made visible, valued, understood for what it is—work—and shared by society as a whole and with the state.
These are essential for the continuity of human and non-human life on the planet. This also guarantees the autonomy of women, who cannot be held individually responsible for care, but whose contributions must be considered: our work sustains the economy. We want a world with feminist justice, autonomy, and women’s participation.

10. We demand a just, sovereign, and popular transition that guarantees the rights of all workers, as well as the right to decent working conditions, freedom
of association, collective bargaining, and social protection. We consider energy to be a common good and advocate for overcoming poverty and energy dependence. Both the energy model and the transition itself must not violate the sovereignty of any country in the world.

11. We demand an end to the exploitation of fossil fuels and call on governments to develop mechanisms to ensure the non-proliferation of fossil fuels, aiming for a fair, popular, and inclusive energy transition with sovereignty, protection, and reparation for territories. This is particularly important in the Amazon and other regions that are sensitive and essential for life on the planet.

12. We fight for public financing and taxation of corporations and the wealthiest individuals. The costs of environmental degradation and losses imposed on populations must be paid by the sectors that benefit most from this model. This includes financial funds, banks, and corporations in agribusiness, water business, aquaculture and industrial fishing, energy, and mining. These  actors must also bear the investments necessary for a just transition focused
on the needs of the people.

13. We demand that international climate financing not go through institutions that deepen the inequality between North and South, such as the IMF and the World Bank. It must be structured in a fair, transparent, and democratic manner. It is not the peoples and countries of the global South that should continue to pay debts to the dominant powers. It is these countries and their corporations that need to start paying off the socio-environmental debt accumulated over centuries of imperialist, colonialist, and racist practices, through the appropriation of common goods and the violence imposed on millions of people who were killed and enslaved.

14. We denounce the ongoing criminalization of movements, the persecution, murder, and disappearance of our leaders who fight in defense of their territories, as well as political prisoners and Palestinian prisoners who fight for national liberation. We demand the expansion of protection for human and socio-environmental rights defenders on the global climate agenda, within the framework of the Escazú Agreement and other regional regulations. When a
defender protects the territory and nature, they protect not only an individual, but an entire people and benefit the entire global community.

15. We call for the strengthening of international instruments that defend the rights of peoples, their customary rights, and the integrity of ecosystems. We need a legally binding international instrument on human rights and transnational corporations, which is built on the concrete reality of the struggles of communities affected by violations, demanding rights for peoples and rules for corporations. We also affirm that the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) should be one of the pillars of climate governance. The full implementation of peasants’ rights returns people to their territories, directly contributing to their food security, soil care, and the cooling of the planet.

Finally, we believe that it is time to unite our forces and face our common enemy.If the organization is strong, the struggle is strong. For this reason, our main political task is the work of organizing peoples in all countries and continents. Let us root our internationalism in each territory and make each territory a trench in the international struggle. It is time to move forward in a more organized, independent, and unified way, to increase our awareness, strength, and combativeness. This is the way to resist and win.

“People of the world: Unite!”