Thousands of protesters delivered their message again at the gates of the COP30 United Nations climate change conference in Belém, Brazil, blocking the venue for climate negotiations in a peaceful standoff.
Activists, Brazilian youth organizations and indigenous communities took part in a march demanding action during a key United Nations climate change conference.
Activists from the Fridays for Future movement spoke out about the effects of climate change in their home countries and advocated for youth representation in UN negotiations.
“This is extremely frustrating for us young people, who are the inheritors of the earth,” said Rachel Junsay of Climate Action Philippines. “It makes us mad and angry because this is the future we’re talking about.”
“This is an issue of survival for our species. And yet the decision-makers sitting at the table today, the people on the negotiating panels, the people in the blue zones in their air-conditioned rooms, they’re talking about, you know, people. And yet the real victims, the real communities, are not at the table and are not part of the conversation.”
First protest during climate change negotiations since 2021
It was the first time in three years that protesters were allowed to demonstrate outside of UN climate change talks.
The demonstration, which has disrupted talks, was part of a conference that organizers are touting as empowering and celebrating indigenous peoples.
Earlier this week, demonstrators surrounded the venue and disrupted talks twice, including on Tuesday when two security guards were slightly injured. Saturday’s march was scheduled to end just before the venue, where a full day of sessions had been scheduled.
Many protesters greatly enjoyed the freedom to demonstrate more openly in Belem than at recent climate change talks in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.
Youth leader Ana Heloisa Alves, 27, said this was the biggest climate change march she had ever participated in. “This is incredible,” she said. “You can’t ignore all these people.”
Alves was marching to protect the Tapajos River, which the Brazilian government wants to develop commercially. Her group’s sign read, “The river belongs to the people.”
Pablo Neri, coordinator of Movimento dos Trabalijadores Rurais Sem Terra, an organization for rural workers in Brazil’s Pará state, said organizers of the dialogue need to involve more people to reflect the climate change movement’s shift towards public participation.
Climate change negotiations are scheduled to end on Friday, November 21, and while analysts and some participants say they do not expect them to yield any major new deals, many say they expect progress on past commitments, such as money to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
The United States has been absent from negotiations after withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord aimed at curbing global warming, with President Donald Trump deriding climate change as a fraud.