Indigenous peoples and other climate change activists say they need to “make their voices heard” as the UN conference reaches its halfway point.
Published November 15, 2025
Thousands of people marched through the streets of the Brazilian city of Belém, demanding that the voices of indigenous peoples and environmental activists be heard at the United Nations COP30 climate change summit.
Saturday’s march, which included indigenous community members and activists, took place in a festive atmosphere, with participants holding giant beach balls representing the earth and Brazilian flags emblazoned with the words “Protected Amazon.”
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It is the first major protest outside the conference, which began in Belem earlier this week, bringing together world leaders, activists and experts to push for action on the worsening climate crisis.
Indigenous activists have previously stormed the summit and disrupted the proceedings, demanding that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva take concrete action to ensure their territory is protected from growing threats.
Amnesty International warned in a recent report that billions of people around the world are threatened by the expansion of fossil fuel projects such as oil and gas pipelines and coal mines.
Rights groups say indigenous communities in particular are at the forefront of much of this development.
Saturday’s rally in Belem, dubbed the “March of the Great People” by organizers, was held as a halfway point in the contentious COP30 negotiations.
“Today we are witnessing the destruction of forests and genocide,” Benedito Huni Quin, 50, a member of the indigenous Huni Quin tribe from western Brazil, told AFP.
“We want Amazon to make our voices heard and demand results,” he said. “We need more indigenous representation in the COP to protect our rights.”
Youth leader Ana Heloisa Alves, 27, said this was the biggest climate march she had ever participated in. “This is unbelievable,” she told The Associated Press. “You can’t ignore all these people.”
The COP30 talks come as the United Nations warned earlier this month that global warming is on track to exceed the internationally agreed target of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Celsius) set under the Paris Agreement within the next decade.
A United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report has found that if countries follow through on their climate change plans, the Earth will warm by 2.3 to 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.1 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100.
UNEP Director Inger Andersen said: “Although national climate plans have made some progress, they are far from fast enough. Unprecedented emissions cuts are therefore still needed in an increasingly challenging geopolitical context and increasingly tight boundaries.”
Despite such urgency,Experts and some COP30 participants said they did not expect any major new agreement to emerge from the talks, which conclude on November 21.
Still, some hope to make progress on past commitments, such as providing funding to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
