BRASILIA (AFP) - Thousands of people marched through the streets of Belem to press for action from negotiators holding tough talks at the UN’s COP30 climate conference in the Amazonian city.
Under a baking sun, Indigenous people mixed with activists gathered in a festive atmosphere, blasting music from speakers, carrying a giant beach ball of Earth and holding a flag of Brazil emblazoned with the words “Protect the Amazon”.
It was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow, as the last three gatherings were held in locations with little tolerance for demonstrations – Egypt, Dubai and Azerbaijan.
Branded the “Great People’s March” by organizers, the Belem rally comes at the halfway point of contentious negotiations and follows two Indigenous-led protests that disrupted proceedings earlier in the week.
“Today we are witnessing a massacre as our forest is being destroyed,” Benedito Huni Kuin, a 50-year-old member of the Huni Kuin Indigenous group from western Brazil, said.
“We want to make our voices heard from the Amazon and demand results,” he said. “We need more Indigenous representatives at COP to defend our rights.”
Their demands include “reparations” for damage caused by corporations and governments, especially to marginalized communities.
Another Indigenous protester, Cristiane Puyanawa, joined the march to call for greater land rights.
“Our land and our forest are not commodities. Respect nature and the peoples who live in the forest,” she said.
Addressing the crowds, Brazil’s environment minister Marina Silva said: “This is a place for us to march and draw up a roadmap for what needs to be done at this COP: a transition away from deforestation and the use of fossil fuels.”
After a 4.5-kilometre march through the city, the demonstration stopped a flew blocks from the COP30 venue, where authorities had deployed soldiers to protect the site.
On Tuesday, Indigenous protesters forced their way into the Parque da Cidade – the COP30 compound built on the site of a former airport – clashing with security personnel, some of whom sustained minor injuries.
Then on Friday, dozens of Indigenous protesters blocked the entrance for roughly two hours to spotlight their struggles in the Amazon, prompting high-level interventions to defuse the situation.
Negotiators shared their progress in a plenary meeting on Saturday before they hand their work over to national ministers to grapple with remaining political obstacles.
“As negotiators approach week two, they need to remember that climate action isn’t about abstract numbers or distant targets. It’s about people,” said Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy non-profit.