Anna Júlia Lopes*
Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, president of COP30 (30th United Nations Climate Change Conference), said that the event to be held in Belém will be a “turning point” for historically marginalized and vulnerable people. In a new letter from the Presidency released on Tuesday (12), Corrêa do Lago reinforced the idea that the conference should be focused on climate justice.
“To all those people who have been historically marginalized, displaced or silenced, COP30 must be the turning point for them to be recognized both as essential actors and as holders of rights in the global climate response,” said the president in the text.
In the letter, the ambassador stated that climate action is not just a scientific or technical issue, but a “human challenge”. According to him, COP30 represents the time to tackle global warming by putting people at the center of the response. He explained that mitigation, adaptation and financing for climate change also imply tackling structural inequalities, ending hunger and fighting poverty, in an attempt to promote sustainable development and equality, including racial and gender equality.
“As the adverse effects of climate change affect more and more individuals and communities around the world, we know that the impacts are felt most acutely by those already in a situation of vulnerability, whether due to geographical factors, poverty, gender, age, race, ethnicity, belonging to indigenous peoples or minorities, nationality or social origin, birth or disability,” he said.
Just as IPAM (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia) defends the idea that without the traditional peoples of the forest, there is no standing Amazon, Corrêa do Lago stated that the role of people – especially those in situations of vulnerability and with the greatest potential to be affected by climate change – should not just be “passive victims”, but “living leaders” of resilience and regeneration.
According to the ambassador, these people should be seen not as a legacy of the past, but as an example that it is possible to have harmonious relations with nature for a common future. The letter also says that bringing COP30 to the heart of the Amazon means giving space to the vulnerable as genuine leaders and that they should occupy the center of global decision-making.
As a way of inviting the international community to make the figure of human beings central to the conference, the COP30 president cited four measures:
- Global mobilization: the idea of a “global effort” has already been defended in Corrêa do Lago’s previous letters. For him, the unity of the international community is one of the main ways of meeting the agreed targets;
- formal negotiations: the ambassador argued that the topic of people and their situation on the planet should be part of the formal negotiations of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change);
- Action Agenda: the document talks about aligning people-centered realities with the six-axis Action Agenda mentioned in the 4th Presidency letter. As an example, the document mentions everything from promoting human and social development to building resilience in cities as solutions that promote climate justice;
- leaders’ summit: Corrêa do Lago said that, as will be stated in a future letter, COP30 will invite the leaders of nations to come together in a debate to find solutions that connect the climate regime to real life and people’s daily lives.
The ambassador stressed that protecting people in a climate context interacts with geopolitical and socio-economic challenges. For this reason, the COP30 Presidency must be guided by three priorities: multilateralism under the convention, the connection between the climate regime and people’s real lives and accelerating the implementation of the Paris Agreement, with actions and adjustments in all the institutions that can contribute to this goal.
*IPAM journalist, anna.rodrigues@ipam.org.br