The United Nations-sponsored climate negotiations begin this week. Known as COP30, this year’s conference marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement and will be the first ever held in the Amazon. It is also being marketed as the most Indigenous of COPs.
As the host country, Brazil is taking the lead to provide camping sites for up to 3,000 people, credentials for hundreds to enter the official venue, and direct channels for Indigenous contributions and demands to be presided over by Brazil’s Minister of Indigenous People, Sonia Guajajara. Indigenous experts say that on paper, what Brazil is doing for Indigenous participation at COP is major progress. Whether those actions translate to influence will be the true test.
This comes at a critical time: 2024 has become the hottest year on record, with global temperatures breaching the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set by the Paris Agreement. Global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and international experts project that extreme climate events like droughts, floods, and storms will become more frequent and intense.
In Brazil, 46 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, primarily due to illegal practices such as logging, farming, and ranching in the Amazon. Yet, Indigenous peoples in Brazil—and globally—continue to offer valuable solutions. Indigenous territories in the Amazon are among the best-preserved areas. In 2024, less than 1.5 percent of deforestation occurred inside demarcated lands, which store almost 60 percent of the forest’s carbon.
This positive trend is visible worldwide, with hundreds of studies showing ecological benefits when Indigenous peoples are involved in land stewardship. These beneficial impacts come from their sovereignty over lands, though this sovereignty poses potential threats to state and corporate interests.
Historically, Indigenous peoples have struggled to participate meaningfully in previous COP summits. Although COPs are often seen as some of the UN’s most democratic processes—where each signatory country, regardless of size or power, has one vote—they remain intergovernmental. Only national delegations have the right to negotiate, and the wording of final texts is their prerogative. This means Indigenous peoples, as nonstate actors, have no formal role in negotiations despite the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which requires states to consult and collaborate on issues affecting Indigenous peoples.
Complicating matters are the complex power structures and acronyms within the UN system. Nonstate actors at COP must be members of organizations accredited by the UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The 2015 Paris Agreement established the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform to enable participation in UN climate processes. While this platform can amplify Indigenous perspectives, “it does not and cannot speak for Indigenous peoples in negotiations,” explained Ghazali Ohorella of the Alifuru people from the Maluku Islands and co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC), a representative caucus participating in the UNFCCC.
“We coordinate. We decide our lines. We push,” Ohorella said.
The record for Indigenous participation at a COP was 316 people in 2023 when the conference was held in Dubai. Earlier this year, Minister Guajajara pledged to facilitate 1,000 UNFCCC credentials for Indigenous peoples, with half of those reserved for Brazilians. However, Ohorella revealed that many of those credentials have yet to materialize. The Ministry of Indigenous People confirmed that 360 Indigenous individuals had credentials but did not rule out that other organizations might have arranged more independently.
Even when accreditation is granted, it does not guarantee meaningful participation. Opportunities to engage with negotiators are scarce, and competition is fierce. “There are tens of thousands of other participants, many of whom are more experienced and better connected than you,” said Hayley Walker, a professor of international negotiation and co-researcher on a study about nonstate actor access and participation at COPs.
Newcomers often struggle to navigate COP politics and leave the process quickly. Even experienced participants must contend with well-funded fossil fuel, mining, and agribusiness lobbyists who have heavily influenced the previous two COPs.
Every five years, signatory states to the Paris Agreement are required to file climate action plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These NDCs are the backbone of the treaty, outlining each country’s efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts, ultimately shaping global progress toward the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals.
Brazil’s latest NDC is the country’s first to mention Indigenous peoples. “It was an important political signal of the role they hold in the current administration,” said Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator at the Brazilian climate policy coalition Observatório do Clima. However, he noted that Indigenous peoples were not involved in drafting the text.
According to the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a land and rights advocacy organization, this lack of participation is consistent across Latin American NDCs filed so far. A report published last week found that, among the most recent NDCs, only Ecuador includes Indigenous territories as part of its climate strategy. Ecuador is one of only six countries recognizing Indigenous sovereign land rights.
“References to Indigenous people were generic and unsupported by the necessary assurances,” said Carla Cardenas, Latin America program director at RRI. “All around, there was an evident lack of substance.”
Alana Manchineri of the Manchineri peoples of Brazil and international adviser to the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) criticized Brazil’s NDC for falling short in acknowledging Indigenous climate contributions and failing to propose safeguards to protect continuously threatened territorial rights.
The significance of Indigenous land demarcation as a leading climate solution is supported by numerous studies. A report released last week by the Environmental Defense Fund projects that deforestation and CO2 emissions in the Amazon would be up to 45 percent higher without Indigenous-managed and protected lands.
Globally, more than 370 million people identify as Indigenous. They are often the first line of defense—and also targets—of climate change. Over centuries, Indigenous communities have survived and adapted to floods, heat waves, storms, and other extreme weather, developing strategies to cultivate drought-resilient crops, build hurricane-resistant homes, and implement early warning systems.
“It all points to us and our territories as the solution,” said Juan Carlos Jintiach of the Ecuadorian Shuar people and executive secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities. “We have plenty of recommendations and proposals. In our lands lie our source of life, our stewardship, our future. Through time, we have learned to mitigate and adapt. We want to be part of the conversation.”
This year, COIAB’s Manchineri has been part of a team crafting the first-ever Indigenous NDC. The document calls for culturally appropriate climate plans, an end to fossil fuels, direct access to climate finance, and meaningful representation in international negotiations. Above all, it urges that land demarcation and territorial protection be recognized as climate policy.
“We translated demands and proposals from the territories into the language of international conferences,” Manchineri said. She added that being at COP30 only makes sense if people back home and on the ground understand its importance. “Our authority as Indigenous leaders is anchored on the territories.”
The Indigenous NDC will be hand-delivered to Brazilian national delegates to inform and influence negotiations. Inspired by this effort, RRI is developing a template for an open-access civil NDC that other communities can adapt.
“It will be a flexible structure that communities can tailor with national data, linking local indicators and strengthening the recognition of their territorial rights,” said RRI’s Carla Cardenas.
Since these are not official government documents, they carry no formal weight in the COP framework. However, Cardenas explained, they act as catalysts for discussions.
“Inside the venue we do what works. Less podium. More hallways. Bilaterals with delegations. Coffee lines. Hallway chats. Ride the shuttle to the venue with the right person at the right time,” said Ghazali Ohorella of IIPFCC. “Do our demands get reflected? Sometimes yes, sometimes later, sometimes in pieces.”
Yet unfamiliarity with the UNFCCC’s intergovernmental nature and the narrative around COP30 being the most Indigenous of COPs may sow frustration and widen the gap between expectations and actual opportunities to influence future climate goals.
According to Ohorella, if COP30’s goal is more photo ops involving Indigenous peoples, it will be a success. If the goal is tangible impact, “the wiring is not finished.”
The true measure, he said, is not who enters the venue but what leaves in the final texts. “We are not here for theater.”
https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/we-are-not-here-for-theater-can-the-most-indigenous-cop-live-up-to-the-hype/