On the fifth day at COP30, civil society erupted.
An indigenous group, the Munduruku people, blocked the COP30 entrance on Friday morning for several hours with a demand to speak to the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or better known as ‘Lula’, about how the plight they face is being ignored.
The group were being supported by several international groups.
One of those groups was the UK-based Cool Earth, which contacted A greener life, a greener world this morning about the protests.
Decades of broken promises
A representative from Cool Earth, Natalie Klepáčová, explained that the protest came at the back of centuries where indigenous groups have been ignored and their land has been taken over for development purposes, “This is what centuries of exclusion, extraction, and broken promises look like when people finally say enough”, she stated.
She explained that indigenous groups have been ignored and excluded from high-level negotiations behind closed doors on carbon targets and financial pledges, and that despite the lands of those people, including rivers and forests make such promises possible, are not being heard.
She added, “For too long, decisions about the future of the planet have been made without the participation of those who protect it every single day”. She took a swipe at financial markets and corporate language, and resolutely stated, “Indigenous peoples are not stakeholders to be ‘consulted’, they are rights-holders, knowledge keepers, and the most effective defenders of the world’s remaining rainforests.”
Despite the persistence of the protesters, ‘Lula’ did not show up, and they had to settle for COP30’s president, André Corrêa do Lago, but he did spend over an hour listening to and speaking to the group’s representatives.
Shutting down peaceful protests
If indigenous groups have to break through the walls of a climate summit or are only able to carry out peaceful actions away from the COP30 negotiations in order to get the world’s attention, “perhaps that says more about the system than about them,” Klepáčová said.
She argued that when it comes to climate justice, we must look beyond negotiation tables, “It comes from shifting power and funding directly to the people on the frontlines”, she said.
Contradictory messages from the UN
The treatment of these protests of indigenous people could be seen as contradictory to the fact that senior COP30 officials have actively welcomed the participation of civil society. A message echoed by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. However, the exclusion of these protests from the summit comes as Simon Stiel, who leads UN Climate Change, complained to the Brazilian authorities about security at the summit, and has since seen a more armoured and hardline security force at the summit.
Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.
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