“I am the founder of the ‘I Lead Climate Action Initiative,’ which is a Pan-African movement that carries out grassroots-based climate action to address the climate crisis in Africa. We advocate for the restoration of Lake Chad, the world’s largest environmental crisis through research and engagement,” says Adenike Titilope Oladosu.
Brazilian Indigenous leader and environmentalist Cacique Raoni Metuktire appealed for support for Indigenous peoples and their land. From the podium of the Peoples’ Summit, Cacique Raoni warned negotiators at the UN climate conference in Belém that without recognizing Indigenous peoples’ land rights, there will be no climate justice.
With the COP30 Presidency prioritizing health at the United Nations climate summit in Belém, African leaders are calling for finance to be channeled towards improving the health systems of developing countries.
In the fertile fields of Jammu's R.S. Pura, rice farmer Mohd Yaseen Khan stares at a cracked irrigation canal, battered by erratic rainfall. “One day heavy rain, next week a dry spell,” he says, dusting his palms. “Our crop suffers. Our costs rise.”
Mutirão first entered the global climate discourse in Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago’s first letter to the world, which was sent in March 2025 as part of his COP30 presidency.
In the scorching heat and humidity, Canru Pataxo marched with his one-year-old son firmly held in his arms.
Farmer and climate activist from Nigeria, Melody Areola, is beating the heat in Belém and voicing farmers’ rights in climate discussions. As the UN Climate Conference, COP30, in Brazil approaches the end of its first week, activists like Melody are making their voices louder.
An open letter by more than 1,000 organizations from 106 countries, including trade unions, Indigenous leaders, feminist and youth movements, Afro-descendants, peasant groups, environmental advocates, disability networks and community organizations, to all States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is calling for a people-centered Just Transition.
A young woman at COP30 speaks about retracing her father’s footsteps. At only 16, her father and her grandfather were among the first families displaced by an unfolding climatic crisis of erratic weather and worsening climate conditions that goes on to date from their ancestral village in Sundarbans. Nearly 60 years later, she is on a mission to reclaim her ancestral lands.
As the world gathers in Brazil for the UN climate talks, the country’s livestock sector - one of the largest in the world - is understandably in the spotlight.
The urgency of linking climate action with social and wider environmental priorities is clear. Climate change, environmental degradation and violent conflict are often deeply connected and even mutually reinforcing. At the same time, climate action can either support or undermine efforts to improve social justice and halt environmental degradation.
At the UN Climate Conference venue in Belém, young activist João Victor da Costa da Silva is trying to make his case heard by negotiators. The 16-year-old Da Silva has a specific request for the parties: the needs of young people with disabilities should be addressed through the lens of climate justice.
Binaifer Nowrojee, a human rights lawyer and the president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), has lauded the Brazilian government “for significant steps taken to breathe life into the climate commitments.”
Least Developed Countries have hailed the debut call for proposals for the Loss and Damage Fund, which was launched on 11 November at the United Nations climate summit known as COP30 in Belem, Brazil.
“This issue has been spiralling out of control year after year. The first responders are the communities themselves. There is no information explaining what a wildfire is in our native language (Mixtec), not even a pamphlet or video that can be distributed”, indigenous language education student Estela Aranda tells IPS.
Generational lived experiences are key to confronting and living with a changing climate, say Indigenous knowledge holders and activists at the UN Climate Conference (COP30).
As the first COP to be held in the Amazon region, in Belém, representatives of Indigenous communities reiterated the importance of generationally transferred knowledge and skills to adapt to and mitigate the threats posed by climate change.
Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon region are calling on climate negotiators to base climate initiatives on the recognition of the land rights of affected Indigenous communities. From the COP30 venue in Belém, these leaders are demanding full participation in the design and implementation of proposed projects.
My recent visit to Brazil coincided partly with the Conference of the Parties (COP) 30, the 30th United Nations Climate Conference in Belém. Although I did not attend COP 30, I was very fortunate to visit the Amazon.
As the world prepares
for the next COP30 summit, a quieter battle is raging in courtrooms.
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are the fossil-fuel industry’s new favourite weapon, turning justice systems into instruments of intimidation.
A report by the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Earth Insight paints a stark picture of how extractive industries, deforestation, and climate change are converging to endanger the world’s last intact tropical forests and the Indigenous Peoples who protect them.
Political courage is the biggest obstacle to limiting the rise in global average temperature to no more than 1.5°C, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.