Indigenous Voices Demand Climate Justice at COP30 in Brazil

Sat Nov 15 2025 19:38:24 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Thousands of climate activists, including Indigenous groups, marched at the COP30 summit in Brazil, calling for urgent action against fossil fuels and highlighting the rights of native communities.

As COP30 climate talks continue in Belém, Brazil, thousands of climate protesters marched, led by Indigenous groups advocating for environmental justice and legal ownership of their territories. The protests featured powerful symbols against fossil fuel reliance, echoing demands for immediate climate action.

Marching to the beat of pounding sound systems, thousands of climate protesters have been bringing their message to the gates of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.

Chanting and singing free the Amazon, demonstrators in host city Belém have been carrying three giant coffins reading Oil, Coal and Gas flanked by two grim reapers.

Indigenous groups displayed signs reading the answer is us as an inflatable elephant and anaconda weaved through the crowd under the hot sun.

This marks the first time since 2021 that protesters have been allowed to demonstrate outside UN climate talks. The last three took place in countries that do not permit public protest.

Fossil fuels are still being burned. We know all too well what it's like to live on the frontline of climate change, Brianna Fruean, a climate activist from Samoa, a low-lying island extremely vulnerable to climate change, told the BBC.

“We are here after so many COPS, marching for justice, for the end of fossil fuels,” Ilan, from the non-governmental organization 350, who lives in Brazil, said.

Indigenous communities, Brazilian youth groups, and activists joined the march in their thousands.

Some carried signs reading demarcation now, calling for Indigenous groups to be given legal ownership of their territories. Hundreds of Indigenous groups live in the Amazon and are regarded by experts as the best protectors of biodiversity and forests.

It comes after protesters carrying signs broke through security lines at the summit on Tuesday, leading to minor injuries among two security staff and causing limited damage to the venue.

Negotiations continued at the COP30 talks, with nearly 200 countries meeting to try to make progress on tackling climate change. Little progress was made in the first week of the talks, although some delegations are pushing for a strategy to move away from fossil fuels.

Presiding over the talks, President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva of Brazil chose Belém to spotlight Indigenous peoples and the Amazon, though his government has recently granted permissions to explore oil at the mouth of the Amazon, raising additional concerns among activists.