By Abbas Nazil
Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Belem, Brazil, demanding greater recognition for Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders during the United Nations COP30 climate summit.
The demonstration, dubbed the “Great People’s March,” took place on November 15, 2025, and brought together Indigenous community members and climate activists in a vibrant, festive atmosphere.
Participants carried a giant beach ball symbolizing the Earth and a Brazilian flag marked with the words “Protected Amazon,” emphasizing the urgent need to safeguard the rainforest from exploitation and destruction.
This was the first major protest outside the COP30 conference, which began earlier in the week and convenes world leaders, experts, and activists to address the escalating global climate crisis.
Earlier in the summit, Indigenous activists had disrupted the conference, urging Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to take concrete action to secure the protection of Indigenous territories from growing threats such as deforestation, mining, and industrial expansion.
Amnesty International has warned that billions of people worldwide face risks from expanding fossil fuel projects, including pipelines, coal mines, and oil extraction, with Indigenous communities disproportionately affected on the front lines of such development.
Benedito Huni Kuin, a 50-year-old representative of the Huni Kuin Indigenous group from western Brazil, described the ongoing destruction of forests as a “massacre” and emphasized the need for stronger Indigenous representation at COP to defend their rights.
Youth climate leader Ana Heloisa Alves, 27, described the march as the largest climate demonstration she had ever joined, highlighting the growing scale of public demand for action against environmental degradation.
The COP30 negotiations occur against a backdrop of alarming climate projections, with the United Nations warning that the world is on course to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius global warming threshold within the next decade if current climate pledges are followed.
The UN Environment Programme reported that even if countries fulfill their climate action plans, global temperatures are expected to rise between 2.3 and 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, underscoring the urgent need for accelerated emissions reductions.
UNEP chief Inger Andersen stressed that while national climate plans have shown some progress, it remains insufficient, calling for unprecedented cuts in greenhouse gas emissions within an increasingly narrow window of opportunity, compounded by complex geopolitical challenges.
Despite the urgency, analysts and some COP30 participants anticipate that major new agreements are unlikely to emerge before the conference concludes on November 21, though efforts continue to secure funding and support for poorer nations to adapt to climate impacts.
The march in Belem reflects growing frustration among civil society groups and Indigenous communities that the pace of climate action remains too slow, and underscores the critical importance of ensuring that vulnerable populations have a voice in global climate policymaking.
Protesters hope that visible public pressure will influence negotiations, reaffirm commitments, and accelerate concrete measures to protect the Amazon, support Indigenous rights, and mitigate the broader climate emergency affecting communities worldwide.
The “Great People’s March” serves as a powerful reminder of grassroots engagement in climate governance, emphasizing the interconnectedness of social justice, environmental protection, and the urgent need for global climate accountability.
