United Nations-sponsored climate talks begin this week. The conference, known as COP30, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement and will be the first conference held in the Amazon. It is also sold as majority of indigenous peoples KS. As the host country, Brazil takes the lead in providing campsites with a capacity of up to 3000 peopleauthority for hundreds of people to enter the official platform, and direct channels for indigenous peoples' contributions and demands chaired by Brazil's Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Sonia Guajajara.
Indigenous experts say that on paper, what Brazil is doing for indigenous participation in the COP is significant progress. The real test will be whether these actions lead to impact.
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This is because 2024 has become hottest year on recordwith global temperature violation limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius set Paris Agreementglobal greenhouse gas emissions continuing to growAnd international experts design that extreme climate events such as droughts, floods and hurricanes will become more frequent and intense. In Brazil, 46 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, primarily due to illegal activities such as logging, farming and ranching in the Amazon.
But indigenous peoples in Brazil and around the world continue to offer solutions. The indigenous territories of the Amazon are among the best preserved and in 2024 less 1.5 percent deforestation occurred on demarcated lands that are responsible for almost 60 percent carbon reserves in the forest. This trend is visible all over the planet with hundreds of studies demonstrating positive environmental outcomes when Indigenous peoples are involved in land management. These positive consequences are due to their sovereignty over the lands, which creates potential threats state and corporate interests.
Indigenous peoples have had difficulty participating in previous COP summits. The COP is often seen as one of the UN's most democratic processes – signatory countries, regardless of size or power, receive one vote each – but they are intergovernmental, so only national delegations can negotiate, and the formulation of the final texts produced at the conference is their responsibility. This means that indigenous peoples are non-state actors and have no formal role in the negotiations, despite the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that states must consult and cooperate on issues that affect indigenous peoples.
In addition, within the UN system there are labyrinths of power structures and acronyms. Non-state participants in the CoP must be members of organizations accredited by the UNFCCC. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The 2015 Paris Agreement established Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform to ensure participation in UN climate processes, and while the platform can broaden indigenous peoples' perspectives, “it does not and cannot speak on behalf of indigenous peoples in the negotiations,” said Ghazali Ohorella, a representative of the Alifuru people of the Maluku Islands and the group's leader International Indigenous Forum on Climate Changeor IIPFCC, the representative assembly of indigenous peoples participating in the UNFCCC. “We coordinate. We define our lines. We push,” Ojorella said.
The record for indigenous participation in the CC was 316 people in 2023, when it was held in Dubai. Earlier this year, Minister Guajajara pledged to grant 1,000 UNFCCC powers to indigenous peoples, with half of them reserved for Brazilians. But Ogorella said those powers were not exercised. Ministry of Indigenous Peoples of Guajajara 360 indigenous peoples verified received powers, but did not rule out the possibility that other organizations would organize something larger on their own.
But accreditation does not guarantee that it will lead to meaningful participation. Opportunities for interaction with negotiators are limited and competition is fierce. “There are tens of thousands of other participants, many of whom are more experienced and better connected than you,” said Hayley Walker, professor of international negotiations at the IÉSEG School of Management and co-investigator of a paper published earlier this year about access and participation of non-state actors in PS. Newcomers often find it difficult to navigate COP policies and end up leaving the process quickly. Even those with experience and know-how must keep up with the well-resourced fossil fuel, mining and agribusiness lobbyists who have flooded previous two CS.
Every five years, states that have signed the Paris Agreement are required to submit climate action plans. This year is one of those. Known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, they are the basis of the treaty, embodying each country's efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. START essentially defines global progress towards achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.
Latest NDC of Brazil is the first in the country to mention indigenous peoples. “It was an important political signal about the role they play in the current administration,” says Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator for the Brazilian climate policy coalition Observatorio do Clima. However, he added that indigenous peoples were not involved in the development of the text.
According to the international land and human rights organization Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), this lack of participation is evident in all Latin American NDCs filed to date. The organization's report, published last week, said that in the latest round of the NDC, only Ecuador names indigenous territories as a climate strategy. The country is one of six countries that recognize their sovereign rights to land.
“References to indigenous peoples were generic and not backed by the necessary safeguards,” said Carla Cardenas, director of Latin America programs at RRI. “There was a clear lack of substance all around.”
According to Alana Mancineri, representative of the Mancineri people in Brazil and international advisor to the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), the Brazilian NDC has fallen far short of recognizing the contributions of indigenous peoples to climate change and offering guarantees to protect constantly threatened territorial rights. From the numerous studies on indigenous land demarcation as a leading solution to climate change, report published last week According to Environmental Defense Fund projects, deforestation and CO2 emissions in the Amazon would be 45 percent higher without managed and protected indigenous lands.
More than 370 million people all over the world identify themselves as indigenous peoples. They are first line defense and climate change goals. Over the centuries, indigenous communities have survived and adapted to floods, heat, storms and other climate events, developing strategies grow drought-resistant crops, hurricane home and early warning systems for extreme weather.
“All of this points to us and our territories as the solution,” said Juan Carlos Jintiah, a representative of the Ecuadorian Shuar people and executive secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities. “We have many recommendations and suggestions. Our lands contain our source of life, our governance, our future. Over time, we have learned to mitigate and adapt. We want to be part of the dialogue.”
This year, COIAB's Mancineri was part of the team that created the first-ever NDC Indigenous Peoples. The document calls for culturally appropriate climate plans, an end to the use of fossil fuels, direct access to climate finance and meaningful representation in international negotiations. First of all, he calls for recognition of land demarcation and territorial protection as climate policy.
“We have translated the demands and proposals of the territories into the language of international conferences,” Mancinei said. She added that participation in COP30 only makes sense if people at home and on the ground understand its importance. “Our authority as Indigenous leaders is anchored in the territories.” The Indigenous NDC will be shared with Brazilian national delegates to inform and influence the negotiations.
Inspired by this, RRI is developing an open access civic NDC template that will allow other communities to do the same. “It will be a flexible framework that communities can adapt based on national data, linking local indicators and increasing recognition of their territorial rights,” said Carla Cardenas of RRI. Since these are not official government documents, they have no formal weight within the CC. They serve as a catalyst for discussion, Cardenas said.
“Inside the facility, we do what works. Less podium. More hallways. Bilateral meetings with delegations. Coffee lines. Conversations in the hallways. Shuttle ride to the venue with the right person at the right time,” said Ghazali Ohorella of IIPFCC. “Are our demands reflected? Sometimes yes, sometimes later, sometimes in parts.”
But ignorance of the intergovernmental nature of the UNFCCC and the narrative that it is the most fundamental of the CoPs can sow disappointment and widen the gap between expectations and actual ability to influence future climate goals.
If the goal of COP30 is to have more photo ops with indigenous people, it will be a success, according to Ghazalli Ohorella. If this is a noticeable impact, then “the wiring is not completed.” The true measure, he says, lies not in who enters the court, but in what leaves in the final texts.
“We're not here for the theater.”
Previous versions of this story incorrectly identified Ghazali Ogorella and Hayley Walker.'s titles. They have been updated.
