Amidst record attendance from Indigenous delegates COP30 delivered some historic wins, including progress on land rights and the first-ever COP recognition of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for Indigenous communities. Nonetheless, as critical demands on fossil fuels, mineral extraction, and deforestation went unmet at COP30, the murder of an Indigenous leader in Brazil during the summit’s final week laid bare the stakes faced by Indigenous communities and environmental defenders far beyond the walls of the conference.
“We Sail to Shift the Centre of Decision-Making”
Image credit: UNFCCC, flickr
An Overview of the COP30 Summit, 2025
Between November 10 and 21, 2025, global delegates from nearly 200 countries gathered in Belém, Brazil, for COP30—the first UN climate conference held in the Amazon. Amongst those in attendance were an estimated 5,000 indigenous delegates. Of these, approximately 900 participated in debates in the Blue Zone, the summit’s official negotiation space – far surpassing COP28’s record of 350 participants.
However, Indigenous presence in Belém extended far beyond the confines of COP30 itself. Between 12 and 16 November, more than 70,000 people from social movements, environmental groups, and Indigenous communities took part in the People’s Summit — a parallel series of assemblies, mobilisations, and cultural events advancing a vision of climate justice outside the formal negotiations. Unlike COP28 in Dubai and COP29, where protests were restricted, Belém saw mass demonstrations, including the 50,000-strong Global March for Climate Justice demanding an end to fossil fuel dependency in the Amazon.
Amongst those was the Yaku Mama Flotilla—sixty Indigenous organizations who travelled 3,000 kilometres from Ecuador’s Andean glaciers to Belém along the Amazon River. Like many of those travelling to Belem, their goals were clear: to ensure that the voices of Indigenous Peoples defending their territories, the Amazon, nature, and their rights were present within COP30 negotiations.
As the organizers declared: “We sail from the middle of the world to shift the centre of decision-making from boardrooms to the territories, because true climate justice is born from the land, flows with its rivers, and is upheld by those who protect it.”
Prior to COP30, representatives of several Indigenous communities in Brazil marched in protest of the state’s failure to provide legal recognition of 107 Indigenous territories via its demarcation processes. Demarcation is considered not only a key factor in the fight of Indigenous communities for the guarantee of recognized and protected territories in Brazil, but also a critical climate action. In the Amazon alone, between 2001 and 2021, Indigenous territories absorbed approximately 340 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, equivalent to the UK’s total annual fossil fuel emissions. There is strong evidence that ecosystems under Indigenous governance are healthier and more resilient than those under state or corporate control, with demarcated Indigenous Lands in the Amazon showing a very low rate of deforestation.
Image credit: Mirna Wabi-Sabi
“Being Here Today, Representing Those Who Haven’t Had the Opportunity to Be Here, Reinforces Our Presence and Responsibility”
Included amongst those areas awaiting demarcation are territories affected by the Ferrogrão railway—a 933 km line connecting the city of Sinop, in Mato Grosso, to the port of Miritituba, in Pará – which together with the National Waterway Plan is expected to multiply grain exports along the Tapajós River sevenfold. The project is expected to affect six Indigenous territories, home to approximately 2,600 people, and could lead to the destruction of 49,000 km² of forest. Indigenous communities argue they haven’t been properly consulted, in violation of ILO Convention 169 and Brazil’s legal obligations for Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
Opposition to the Ferrogrão railway featured prominently not only at the People’s Summit, but also at COP30 itself. On Friday, 14 November, around 90 Munduruku Indigenous people staged a peaceful protest by blocking the main entrance to the summit’s Blue Zone-the restricted area reserved for negotiators.
Following a meeting between the COP30 president, the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, and Munduruku leaders, the federal government announced it would proceed with the demarcation of the Sawré Muybu and Sawré Ba’pim Indigenous Lands and committed to reviewing the impacts of large-scale infrastructure projects in the Tapajós basin.
Images of Munduruku women physically blocking diplomatic access quickly became emblematic of COP30’s central contradiction: despite record Indigenous attendance, structural barriers persisted. Prohibitive costs, administrative hurdles, and the exclusionary Green Zone/Blue Zone divide continued to limit meaningful participation, while highly militarised security measures reinforced who was—and was not—welcome in decision-making spaces.
As one Munduruku leader explained: “We would have much more to contribute if more Indigenous people were participating in these discussions. Being here today, representing those who haven’t had the opportunity to be here, reinforces our presence and responsibility. We are the ones who create this protective barrier, so we want to be heard.”
Reflections on COP30
One major outcome from the summit was the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment (ILTC), which pledged to recognize Indigenous land tenure rights across 160 million hectares by 2030, backed by 15 governments. Meanwhile, the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG) announced $1.8 billion to support Indigenous peoples and local communities in securing land rights over the next five years. Together, these initiatives represent an important step toward accelerating finance for Indigenous Peoples and local communities while supporting efforts to halt and reverse forest loss.
COP30 also saw the launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), through which countries that maintain intact tropical forest cover could receive up to $4 per hectare annually, with at least 20% going to Indigenous and local communities. Meanwhile, the right to FPIC for Indigenous peoples was mentioned in the Just Energy Transition Programme document—the first time such rights have been recognized in a text approved by the UNFCCC.
Image credit: UNFCCC flickr
Within Brazil, government confirmed progress in the demarcation of 27 Indigenous Lands and announced the Indigenous Land Protection Program (PPTI), which appears to mark a strategic step towards consolidating demarcation as a climate policy in Brazil.
However, the final COP30 agreement omitted any mention of a fossil fuel phase-out roadmap; despite more than 80 countries pushing for explicit references to fossil fuels. Likewise, a road map to combat deforestation was absent, as were any references to critical minerals, despite the fact that 54% of the critical minerals needed for the energy transition are on or near Indigenous territories.
Despite positive developments, many of the core calls from the People’s Summit remained unaddressed. The systems driving deforestation, land encroachment, and climate change-fossil fuel expansion, extractive industries, and industrial agriculture—were left largely intact.
A Death During the “Indigenous COP”
These contradictions—celebrated progress alongside unresolved structural violence-came into sharp relief during COP30’s final week.
On 16 November, Vicente Fernandes Kaiowá, a Guarani Indigenous leader in Mato Grosso do Sul, was killed in an attack reportedly carried out by armed individuals linked to private security forces employed by local landowners – the fourth violent assault against the Pyelito Kue community in a fortnight.
The Pyelito Kue community had recently reoccupied part of their ancestral territory within Iguatemipeguá I Indigenous Territory-land officially delimited by FUNAI in 2013 but never fully demarcated. The legal limbo has allowed violent attacks by ranchers and armed groups to continue with impunity for over a decade.
Vicente’s death underscores a chilling reality faced by many Indigenous communities and environmental defenders. According to Global Witness, 413 environmental defenders were killed or disappeared in Brazil between 2012 and 2024—second only to Colombia globally. Just one week before COP30, Brazil’s National Council for Human Rights had requested that the government declare a state of public emergency due to escalating violence against Indigenous peoples.
“For Us, Territorial Defence is Every Day”
Image credit: Mirna Wabi-Sabi
For those defending the environment, the absence of binding commitments on fossil fuels, deforestation, and extractive expansion is not abstract; it directly shapes the conditions that make defending Indigenous territories increasingly dangerous.
Emil Gualinga, Kichwa Peoples of Sarayaku, Ecuador: “Despite being referred to as an Indigenous COP and despite the historic achievement in the Just Transition Programme, it became clear that Indigenous Peoples continue to be excluded from the negotiations, and in many cases, we were not given the floor in negotiation rooms. Nor have most of our proposals been incorporated. The militarization of the COP shows that Indigenous Peoples are viewed as threats, and the same happens in our territories: militarization occurs when Indigenous Peoples defend their rights in the face of oil, mining, and other extractive projects.”
Environmental Activism, Looking Forward
COP30 brought developments, yet the gap between conference halls and territories remains stark. Vicente Fernandes Kaiowá died defending land that was delimited but never demarcated—caught in a legal limbo that enables violence with impunity.
The legacy of COP30 for Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders depends on what happens next: whether commitments translate into protected land and genuine power for these communities. In the meantime, the real battle for the rights of Indigenous peoples and territories they inhabit will continue to take place on the ground.
In the words of Toya Manchineri, from the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB): “Indigenous Peoples will remain vigilant, mobilized, and present beyond COP30… For some, COP ends today, for us, territorial defense in the heart of the Amazon is every day…”
Activists Without Borders calls for recognition and justice for Indigenous peoples globally in their fight for territorial rights and environmental protections.
