Thousands march for climate action outside COP30 summit in Brazil | Climate Crisis News

Indigenous and other climate activists say they ‘need to raise their voices’ as the UN conference is halfway through.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of the Brazilian city of Belém, calling for the voices of indigenous peoples and environmental defenders to be heard at the UN COP30 climate summit.

Members of the indigenous community joined activists in Saturday’s march, which unfolded in a festive atmosphere as participants carried a giant beach ball representing the Earth and a Brazilian flag emblazoned with the words “Protect Amazon.”

It was the first major protest outside the conference, which began in Belém earlier this week, bringing together world leaders, activists and experts to tackle the worsening climate crisis.

Indigenous activists first disrupted proceedings by storming the summit as they demanded that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva take concrete action to ensure that their territories are protected from the growing threats.

Amnesty International warned in a recent report that the expansion of fossil fuel projects such as oil and gas pipelines and coal mines threatens billions of people around the world.

Indigenous communities in particular are at the forefront of this development, the rights group said.

Dubbed the “Great People’s March” by organizers, Saturday’s rally in Belém took place at the halfway point of the contentious COP30 talks.

“Today we are witnessing a genocide because our forests are being destroyed,” Benedito Huni Quin, a 50-year-old member of the Huni Quin indigenous group in western Brazil, told the AFP news agency.

“We want to bring our voices to Amazon and demand results,” he said. “We need more indigenous representatives in the COP to defend our rights.”

Ana Heloisa Alves, a 27-year-old youth leader, said it was the largest climate march she has participated in. “It’s unbelievable,” he told The Associated Press. “You can’t ignore all these people.”

The COP30 talks come as the UN warned earlier this month that the world is “very likely” on track to exceed the 1.5C (2.7F) mark of global warming – an internationally agreed target set under the Paris Agreement – ​​within the next decade.

If countries do as they have promised in their climate action plans, the planet will warm by 2.3 to 2.5C (4.1 to 4.5F) by 2100, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

“While national climate plans have made some progress, it is still not fast enough, which is why we still need unprecedented emissions reductions at a difficult time, with an increasingly challenging geopolitical backdrop,” said UNEP chief Inger Andersen.

Despite that urgency, aAnalysts and some COP30 participants have said they do not expect any major new agreements from the talks ending on November 21.

Still, some are hoping for progress on some previous promises, including funding to help poor countries adapt to climate change.