The 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in mid-November 2025 in Brazil’s Amazon region. Heads of state, government delegations, business leaders, and scientists will gather in the city of Belém to negotiate climate action.
Indigenous associations, environmental and human rights organisations have reportedly united for the People’s Summit for Climate Justice to make their voices heard. The highlight will be a day of protest on November 15 in Belém, where several organisations, including the Rainforest Rescue, will be present on the ground.
According to Rainforest Rescue, the tropical rainforests are essential for humanity, biodiversity, and the global climate. Covering 6 million km2, Amazonia is said to be the world’s largest rainforest – more than the area of all EU countries combined.
“From the vast canopy, enormous amounts of water constantly evaporate to form rain clouds. In this way, Amazonia helps stabilise the global water cycle and the climate.
“At the same time, it stands at the heart of global forest destruction, biodiversity collapse, and escalating threats to both nature and human rights,” said John Hayduska of Rainforest Rescue.
According to the group, the homeland of hundreds of Indigenous peoples is under threat. It adds that agribusiness, logging, and mining are destroying ecosystems and the foundations of life for local communities, even as deep social inequality, violence, and abuse of power are widespread.
“The Amazon rainforest is approaching a tipping point beyond which there can be no recovery. South America’s great ‘rain machine’ could collapse – with global consequences for us all. We cannot let this happen,” stated Hayduska.
At COP30 in Brazil, he wants governments to commit to decisive measures to confront the global climate crisis and protect rainforests.
“We are calling for real and just solutions,” Hayduska said, seeking support for the demands of the People’s Summit, and an endorsement of a petition.
The petition
To: governments, heads of state and government, and delegations to the UN climate summit COP30 in Brazil
Ladies and Gentlemen,
With people from every corner of the globe, I urge you to make binding decisions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil in November 2025 that truly confront the climate crisis. Seize this moment – take meaningful action to curb global warming and protect the world’s forests for generations to come.
Together with the participants of the People’s Summit, I call for:
- Ending the production and burning of fossil fuels – responsible for more than two-thirds of the emissions fueling global warming.
- Consistent and uncompromising protection of forests from deforestation.
- Swiftly reaching international agreements for a just energy transition, led by the wealthiest nations.
- Establishing true environmental and climate justice; false solutions often most severely affect those who have contributed least to global warming.
- Full respect for human rights – including the rights of Indigenous and traditional communities to ancestral land and the sovereignty to shape their own food systems.
- Recognising nature as a subject of rights and safeguarding biodiversity for the future.
We stand at a turning point. Not tomorrow, not someday. Now is the time for concrete decisions – and your leadership is essential.
Yours faithfully,
By Idowu Ojuade