Photo - activists from the Munduruku-movement took to the streets to demand protection and respect of their indigenous territories

Banners, badges, barricades: tens of thousands of protesters in Belém took to the boiling streets to march against COP30, demanding immediate climate action, financial justice and a seat at the table.

The first week of COP30 is coming to an end, and the tempers are flaring as much as the temperatures in Belém. The countless actions and protests that have been taking place inside and outside the UN venue culminated yesterday in a massive movement on the streets, uniting civil society organisations, grassroots movements, Indigenous and peasant communities, as well as members of the local population of Belém.

The peaceful protest of more 40.000 people marked the penultimate day of the Cúpola dos Povos, the Peoples’ Summit, a civil-society-led conference taking place parallel to COP. It was the first time in four years that a mass protest of this size took place around a UNFCCC event. Back in 2021, around 80,000 people took to the streets in Glasgow to increase the pressure on world leaders to take climate action. Between then and today, all UNFCCC COPs were held in countries considered non-democratic, making mass demonstrations highly restricted or practically impossible.

The march began at 7:30 in the morning and extended for just over four kilometres, ending at the Aldeia Amazônica, roughly two kilometres away from the COP venue, which is heavily guarded by military and police. Security around COP30 has been significantly tightened since the evening of November 11, when a group of Indigenous activists entered the entry hall of the Blue Zone — the space designated for negotiations and plenaries.

With this unprecedented event, the activists demanded inclusion into the multilateral decision-making. Contrary to its official claims, most of civil society, including indigenous groups, experience UN-events like COP30 as spaces of exclusion and silencing.

Photo - two activists from Debt for Climate and the Mesoamerican Caravan are holding up their banner at the of the mass mobilisation

Yesterday, tens of thousands of chanting voices were fighting to be heard by those in charge. Among the many different groups and activists was the Indigenous Munduruku movement Ipereğ Ayũ. Their member Gilvana B. said -

“We fight for the preservation of [the Tapajós] river, against mining, against roads, against destruction”, she explained in Portuguese. The river and the people who live on its banks need protection."

Another voice in the march was Alicia Maldonado, global coordinator of Debt for Climate -

“This march demonstrates people power – it is bigger than the lobbyists, bigger than the corporations, bigger than the genocidal countries inside COP. This shows how popular movements are uniting against the system.”

Debt for Climate is a Global-South-led grassroots movement that demands unconditional debt cancellation for Global South countries. Many states in the Global South are caught in unjust, colonial debt structures, that force governments to prioritise debt repayment over healthcare, education, food security and biodiversity protection. At the same time, these financial burdens prevent countries from taking essential mitigation and adaptation measures, despite being among the regions most severely impacted by our planet’s rising temperatures. Especially in the Amazon, the consequences of climate change have already become lived reality.

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Marching next to the banners of Debt for Climate was Dianx Cantarey, co-organizer and participant of the Mesoamerican Caravan for Climate and Life; a caravan of 50 land defenders and members of social movements that departed from the North of Mexico and within three weeks made its way through Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia all the way to Belém. The caravan met with several territorial processes along the way, collecting their demands and building alliances.

The colourful march of civil society struck a stark contrast to the negotiations and panels in the highly restrictive Blue Zone, shaped by lobbying and corporate interests. An analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out-Coalition published on Friday the 14th of November revealed that the 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists easily outnumber every country’s delegation except for Brazil’s. This imbalance was a central demand of the march itself.

One more week of negotiations is still to come, and the voices in the streets of Belém made it clear that exclusive nature and the lack of solutions after 30 years of discussions are unacceptable. Civil society is not requesting a seat at the table, they are demanding it. Their call is for justice, for real decision-making power, and for a COP that protects land, life, and those who defend both.