Activists described climate impacts in their home countries and demanded youth representation in UN negotiations. Thousands of protesters carried their message to the gates of the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, blocking the entrance during a peaceful standoff.
Brazilian youth groups, environmental activists, and Indigenous communities marched together to demand urgent action from leaders at the UN meeting. Members of Fridays for Future stressed that young people deserve a place in discussions that will shape their future.
Rachelle Junsay from Climate Action Philippines said the situation frustrates younger generations who must inherit the planet. She said decision-makers sit in comfortable rooms discussing communities that remain absent from the negotiation table.
Demonstrators Return After Three-Year Ban
Protesters demonstrated outside the UN climate talks for the first time in three years. Organizers promoted this year’s conference as one that honors and elevates Indigenous voices.
Earlier in the week, protesters twice surrounded the venue and disrupted the talks. One incident on Tuesday left two security guards with minor injuries. Organizers planned Saturday’s march to stop short of the site, where a full day of sessions awaited.
Participants celebrated the freedom to protest more openly in Belem compared with climate conferences held recently in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. Youth leader Ana Heloisa Alves called it the largest climate march she had ever joined and said the crowd could not be ignored.
Alves campaigned to protect the Tapajos River from commercial development. Her group carried signs declaring that the river belongs to the people.
Pablo Neri, coordinator for the rural workers’ movement in Pará, urged organizers to include more voices to match a climate movement growing around popular participation.
Expectations Remain Low for Major Outcomes
The climate talks are scheduled to continue through Friday, 21 November. Analysts and participants said they doubt the conference will deliver major new agreements, though many expect movement on earlier commitments. These include funding to help poorer nations adapt to climate impacts.
The United States chose not to attend, as President Donald Trump has dismissed climate change as a hoax and withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement designed to limit global warming.
