Indigenous Groups and Climate Activists March Together Outside COP30 in Brazil

Author: Vera Rousseff

November 19, 2025

HRRC stands with environmental activists and Indigenous groups in Brazil as they urge COP30 participants to take meaningful action in the fight against climate change. Indigenous communities and representatives from the Global South deserve a central role in sustainability plans, while rich, developed countries—the primary contributors to climate change—must implement the most drastic measures to address the climate crisis.

Thousands of people take part in the so-called "Great People's March" in the sidelines of the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Para State, Brazil on November 15, 2025. [Image credit: Pablo Porciuncula / AFP / Lehtikuva]

On Saturday, thousands took to the streets of Belém, Brazil, to call for action against climate change as the United Nations COP30 climate summit concluded its first week.

The march was largely peaceful, with Indigenous community members and international climate activists coming together to play music, wave flags, and dance in what has been termed the “Great People’s March.” It is the largest protest to take place outside the annual conference since COP26 in Glasgow four years ago.

This year’s protest spotlighted the voices of Indigenous people, who are directly affected by the degradation of the Amazon jungle. One Indigenous protester, Raquel Wapichana, told The Guardian, “I am here for my people, my land, our rivers and our ancestors. We are constantly threatened by mining, by agribusiness and by land invasions. We must fight for our survival.” Before the march began, Indigenous groups led traditional chants beneath an enormous beach ball resembling the Earth.

Indigenous protesters had already staged two demonstrations last week, prior to Saturday’s march. On Tuesday, November 11, Indigenous activists stormed the COP30 building to demand that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva implement measures to protect their territories from extractive industries, such as oil exploration and illegal mining. Three days later, dozens of members of the Indigenous Munduruku group blockaded the entrance to the building for nearly two hours in an attempt to speak directly with President Lula. 

The intense activism organized by Brazil’s Indigenous groups at this year’s climate summit underscores the crucial role that Indigenous people play in the protection of Brazil’s natural resources, especially the Amazon rainforest, and the importance of including Indigenous people in sustainability efforts. The Amazon is home to hundreds of Indigenous groups, including some that have never had contact with the outside world. Experts argue that these groups play a vital role in protecting the Amazon by carefully managing the forests within their territories and fighting against deforestation.

Despite the urgent need to tackle the climate crisis, the last few COP summits have failed to make meaningful progress. Following last year’s COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, the United Nations bloc of Least Developed Countries (LDC Group)—a group of 45 countries who are particularly vulnerable to climate change—described the summit as “a staggering betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable.” They argue that the richest, most developed countries in the world, which have historically contributed the most to climate change, are also doing the least to address it.

Meanwhile, the UN warned earlier this month that the world will very likely warm by more than 1.5C (2.7F) within the next decade, thus exceeding the warming limit agreed upon under the Paris Agreement. Unless global powers like the United States take immediate, drastic measures to combat climate change, the world’s most vulnerable populations will be the first to suffer its effects.

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Glossary

• Amazon Rainforest: a large, tropical forest in South America that is home to many plants, animals, and Indigenous peoples. It plays an important role in controlling the Earth’s climate.

• Agribusiness: large-scale farming businesses that produce food, crops, or livestock, often for national or global markets.

• Climate Change: long-term changes in the Earth’s temperature and weather patterns, mostly caused by human activities like burning fossil fuels.

• Climate Summit (COP): a yearly global meeting where world leaders discuss and plan actions to slow climate change. COP stands for Conference of the Parties.

• Deforestation: the removal or destruction of forests, often for farming, mining, or development, which harms the environment.

• Degradation: the process of something becoming worse, weaker, or damaged over time.

• Developed Countries: wealthy nations with advanced economies, technology, and infrastructure (such as the United States, Canada, and most of Europe).

• Extractive Industries: businesses that take natural resources from the Earth, such as mining, drilling for oil, or cutting down forests.

• Global South: a term used to describe less wealthy countries, mostly in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania, that often face greater challenges from climate change.

• Indigenous Peoples: communities that are native to a specific region and have lived there for generations, often maintaining their own cultural and traditional ways of life.

• Paris Agreement: an international agreement created to stop dangerous levels of global warming by limiting how high global temperatures can rise.

• Sustainability: efforts to protect the environment and use natural resources responsibly so they can last for future generations.