Over 200 boats, including Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, for a total of almost 5,000 people, sailed the waters of the Guama and Guajara rivers, reaching Guajara Bay, in Belém, Brazil, to send a clear message to the negotiators and leaders present at COP30: climate change is an urgent issue that above all concerns the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
A real flotilla and a symbolic action that started the People’s Summitthe Indigenous Peoples Summit parallel to COP30, and highlighted the importance of a collective and inclusive vision in the fight for climate and social justice.
Sailing along the rivers, the participants in the People’s Summit they brought with them placards with messages aimed at policy makers who are discussing climate agreements at COP30. The words on the boats speak clearly: “Indigenous rights are non-negotiable” and “Agriculture does not fill the plate”. All slogans that are the expression of a cry of denunciation against political decisions that continue to perpetuate a model of territorial exploitation and allow large companies to exercise too strong an influence on the decision-making spaces of climate conferences.
Sailing today means continuing to defend our lands. Delimiting our territories means defending life – says Marcos Xukuru do Ororuba, Cacique of the Xukuru indigenous community. A powerful message that underlines the inseparable link between the defense of the land and the survival of indigenous and local populations, who are among the first victims of climate change and environmental destruction.
A call to action: defend nature and human rights
Carolina Pasquali, executive director of Greenpeace Brazil, underlines the importance of bringing international negotiators to the heart of the Amazon, to let them experience firsthand the difficulties that the local population is facing. “We are suffering from drought, from fires, from climate change. The rainforest should not be burning. It is only burning because of man-made fires and drought. This is the context that we need to make political leaders understand,” he said.
The message coming from the waters of Guajará Bay is clear and powerful: the fight against climate change cannot be separated from the rights of indigenous populations and the most vulnerable people. The protection of the Amazon and its ecosystems is not just an environmental issue, but a matter of social justice. The future of the planet depends on the ability of world leaders to understand that we cannot have a stable climate without preserving the forests and lands that are vital to the ecological balance of our world.
In the People’s Summitwhich takes place alongside the official COP30 negotiations, activists, indigenous leaders and social movements have a common goal: to ensure that the voices of those living on the front lines of the climate crisis are heard and that decisions made globally truly reflect the needs of people and the planet. At a time when international policies often seem to lack ambition, the People’s Summit is an urgent call for concrete and inclusive action.
The cruise ship paradox
In the small port of Belém, two huge cruise ships loom on the horizon. That’s right: two floating giants, which can accommodate up to 6,000 people, have been transformed into hotels to accommodate conference delegates, as the city does not have a sufficient number of traditional hotels.
The choice to use cruise ships, however, has attracted criticism from environmentalists, who underline its high environmental impact: to adapt the port to the arrival of the ships, modernizations were necessary which, according to local authorities, represent an important investment for the region. Everything is not normal at a climate summit.
