Brazil

Brazil’s Indigenous Communities Receive $9M in GEF Funding to Protect Lands, Traditions Under Threat

On Brazil’s northeastern coast, the Indigenous community, Tremembé da Barra do Mundaú, lives on a preserved stretch of land shaped by mangroves, dunes, and deserted beaches. The group of around 160 families is led by women and depends on the 3,500-hectare territory for fishing and subsistence farming.

Excluding Food Systems From Climate Deal Is a Recipe for Disaster

As they ate catered meals, COP30 negotiators had no appetite for fixing broken food systems, a major source of climate pollution, experts warn. Food systems are the complete journey food takes—from the farm to fork—which means its growing, processing, distribution, trade and consumption and even the waste.

Living with nature, the climate lesson from Brazil’s caatinga

“The work of collecting seeds saved me from depression,” caused by her daughter's suicide at the age of 29, said Maria do Desterro Soares, 64, who lives in the poor rural community of Jatobá in northeastern Brazil.

Natural Restoration Recovers Lagoon and Environmental Justice in Brazil: VIDEO

"We moved from a context of socio-environmental exclusion to one of environmental justice," said Dionê Castro, coordinator of the Sustainable Oceanic Region Program which led Brazil's largest nature-based solutions project.

The Bitter Sweet Future of Cocoa Showcased During COP30, Belém

Izete dos Santos Costa, also known as Dona Nena among locals in Combu Island, welcomed hundreds of people from around the world during the recent climate conference in Belém. Her team showcased local crafts and chocolate-making processes in the land of the Amazon rainforest—far from the deafening air conditioner sounds at the Parque da Cidade, where the COP30 negotiations were ongoing.

Sindh People’s Housing Redefines Post-Disaster Adaptation Success

By any comparison, the statistics for Sindh People's Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) are phenomenal. In 2022, photographs from the region showed people treading carefully through waist-deep water with their few belongings grasped firmly above their heads in an attempt to escape the flooding caused by 784 percent more than average monsoon rains.

COP30 Was Diplomacy in Action as Cooperation Deepens—Says Climate Talks Observer

As observers at the Conference of Parties closely monitored proceedings in Belém, many, such as Yamide Dagnet, approached the UN Climate Summit as an implementation COP. They are advocating for tangible signals to ignite crucial climate action before the climate crisis reaches irreversible levels.

Unpacking COP30’s Politically Charged Belém Package

Following tense, nightlong negotiations and bitter rows between more than 190 country delegations, a “politically charged Belém package" was finally forged at COP30—so named because of the highly contentious and difficult-to-negotiate issues within the climate talks.

School Days Lost, but Non-Economic Loss and Damage Not Part of Global Talks

Jyoti Kumari missed her online classes again today. Her father, a vegetable seller in West Delhi’s vegetable market, had to go to work, taking with him the only smartphone the family uses. Kumari has been taking online classes since November 11, when the state government declared a shutdown of all elementary schools due to air pollution hitting the “severe” category.

‘Future Shaped by Ocean-Based Innovations Within Reach’

The oceans are a fundamental part of Earth's climate system, regulating it by absorbing and storing vast amounts of solar heat, redistributing that heat around the globe through currents, and absorbing a significant portion of human-caused carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions—yet scientific research into them remains underfunded.

Sidelined—Quilombos Fight on for Health of World’s Largest Rainforest

Just 30 minutes from where the UN climate negotiations are unfolding in the port city of Belém, Afro-descendant communities are engaged in a fierce struggle for the full recognition and legal titling of their ancestral territories—critical as their security and livelihoods are compromised by businesses wanting to set up contaminating landfill sites and drug cartels.

Civil Society Warns of New Land Grabs as World Bank Pushes for Tenure Reforms in Africa

As the COP30 negotiations intensify in Belém, Brazil, civil society organizations and research experts have called out major financial institutions for promoting foreign interests in controlling Africa's land by formalizing land tenure and seeking to convert Africa's land into industrial farms or carbon markets.

Explainer: Inside COP30’s 11th Hour Negotiations for Legacy-Building Belém Climate Deal

At a Conference of the Parties, where science intersects with politics, reaching agreements is often a tricky business. What is inside the last-minute negotiations as the COP presidency tries to get the parties to agreement at the final plenary?

Why Climate Finance Is Vital for the Implementation of NDCs in Africa

Funding cuts from the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe have left a funding gap in climate change programmes across Africa.

Faith Leaders Endorse Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty at COP30

Decades ago, a little girl was born in a place called Cleveland, Ohio, in the heart of the United States of America. Born to a woman from the deep South, the place of Martin Luther King, her mother left her ancestral lands for the economic opportunities in the north.

Why Food and Agriculture Should Be at the Centre of COP30 Agenda

As the COP30 entered its second week in Brazil, the urgency to tackle climate change has never been  greater, as is the appetite to feed a growing world population.

Pan-African Activist Advocates for Climate-Resilient Food, Education Systems at Belém Talks

“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.

Explainer: Halfway Through COP30, Sticking Points Emerge Across Key Areas

COP30 negotiations are midway. So far, talks about historic agreements are moving forward, backward, or stalling, depending on who you ask. The most pressing issues on the table are finances, adaptation, fossil fuel phase-outs, and climate justice.

‘No Land Rights, No Climate Justice,’ Say Activists at Peoples’ Summit

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.

Africa Wants Health to Be at the Center of Adaptation Finance

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.

You Cannot Make Decisions About Our Lives—A Perspective on Global Climate Change Negotiations

Immaculata Casimero, a leader of the Wapichan Women’s Movement, remembers the beauty of the mountains that are cultural sites to her indigenous community in Guyana.

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