Activists highlighted climate impacts in their home countries and pushed for youth voices in UN negotiations.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, blocking the venue in a peaceful demonstration. Brazilian youth groups, activists, and Indigenous communities marched together to demand urgent climate action.
Rachelle Junsay from Climate Action Philippines said youth inherit the planet, and exclusion from talks frustrates them. She criticized negotiators for ignoring communities directly affected by climate change.
Public Demonstrations Resume After Three Years
Protesters returned to demonstrate outside the UN climate talks for the first time since 2021. Organizers promoted the conference as a platform empowering Indigenous peoples.
Earlier in the week, demonstrators disrupted the talks twice, once leaving two security guards with minor injuries. Saturday’s march stopped short of the venue, where negotiations continued all day.
Protesters welcomed the ability to demonstrate more openly than at recent summits in Azerbaijan, the UAE, and Egypt. Ana Heloisa Alves, 27, called it the largest climate march she had joined and said the crowd could not be ignored.
Alves focused on protecting the Tapajos River, which the Brazilian government plans to develop commercially. Her group carried signs declaring, “The river is for the people.”
Calls Grow for Inclusive Climate Policy
Pablo Neri of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra said organizers should involve more participants to reflect the growing popular climate movement.
The COP30 talks continue through Friday, 21 November. Analysts and participants do not expect major new agreements but hope to advance prior commitments, including funding for poorer countries to adapt to climate change.
The United States skipped the conference. President Donald Trump has ridiculed climate change and withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Agreement, which sought to limit global warming.
