Activists described climate impacts in their home countries and demanded stronger youth participation in UN negotiations. Thousands of protesters returned to the gates of the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, blocking the entrance in a peaceful standoff.
Brazilian youth groups, activists, and Indigenous communities marched together to pressure leaders during the critical UN climate meeting. Members of Fridays for Future urged negotiators to include young people in formal discussions.
Rachelle Junsay from Climate Action Philippines voiced frustration, saying youth will inherit a damaged planet. She said decision-makers talk comfortably inside negotiation rooms while real victims remain excluded from the table and the conversation.
Demonstrators Resume Protests After Long Pause
Protesters demonstrated outside UN climate talks for the first time since 2021. Organizers of the conference promoted it as a platform that empowers and celebrates Indigenous peoples.
Earlier in the week, protesters disrupted the talks twice by encircling the venue. One incident on Tuesday left two security guards with minor injuries. Saturday’s march stopped short of the site, where a full day of negotiations continued.
Many participants welcomed the ability to protest more freely in Belem than at recent climate summits in Azerbaijan, the UAE, 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 marched to defend the Tapajos River, which the Brazilian government plans to develop commercially. Her group carried signs declaring that the river belongs to the people.
Movement Pushes for Broader Public Participation
Pablo Neri, coordinator in Pará for the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, said organizers should include more voices to match a climate movement shifting toward mass participation.
The climate conference is scheduled to continue through Friday, 21 November. Analysts and several participants do not expect major new agreements but hope to see progress on previous commitments, including funding to help poorer nations adapt to climate impacts.
The United States is skipping the event. President Donald Trump has mocked climate change as a hoax and withdrew the country from the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aimed to limit global warming.
