\n<\/p>\n
Protesters blockaded the main entrance to the Cop30 climate conference for several hours early on Friday morning, demanding to speak to Brazil\u2019s president about the plight of the country\u2019s Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
About 50 people from the Munduruku people in the Amazon basin blocked the entrance with some assistance from international green groups, watched by a huge phalanx of riot police, soldiers and military vehicles.<\/p>\n
They hoped to speak to Lula da Silva to explain their grievances. \u201cWe demand the presence of President Lula, but unfortunately we are unable to do so, as always,\u201d said one of the protesters. \u201cWe were always barred, we were never listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead the group had to settle for Andr\u00e9 Corr\u00eaado Lago, the tall, amiable Cop president, who spent more than an hour listening and talking to the group\u2019s representatives.<\/p>\n
Long queues formed outside the centre and delegates were diverted to a small side entrance. Eventually the activists relocated to a building to hold further discussions with Corr\u00eaa do Lago.<\/p>\n
These protests are just a small part of what is expected at the Belem summit. For the first time in four years the UN climate conference is being held in a democracy, and senior figures at the Cop30 conference centre have encouraged the presence of civil society groups.<\/p>\n
UN secretary-general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres told the Guardian that Indigenous and other people\u2019s organisations were needed to balance the power of corporate lobbyists, who have dominated recent summits. One in every 25 participants at this year\u2019s summit is a fossil fuel lobbyist, according to an analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition, it emerged on Friday. Meanwhile Corr\u00eaa do Lago has said civil society will play an important role in raising the ambition of negotiators.<\/p>\n
That spirit pervades the conference and the meetings around it. For days, activists have flooded into Bel\u00e9m, many borne by boat along the Amazon River itself. On Wednesday, more than 100 vessels sailed in a protest flotilla up and down Guajar\u00e1 Bay close to the Federal University of Par\u00e1, which has become the venue for a \u201cpeople\u2019s summit\u201d running alongside the main climate talks.<\/p>\n
On Saturday two inflatable serpents representing the spirit of resistance at Cop30 will be carried along the streets of the city, as thousands of Indigenous and other civil society activists remind jetsetting delegates where this Cop is taking place: the Amazon, the global frontline of environmental destruction and forest defence.<\/p>\n
Activists argue that at best Cop climate summits are a forum where the concerns of the developing world can be expressed in the full glare of media attention and relayed back to civil society in the global north.<\/p>\n
More than four events a day are being organised, ranging from protests against agribusinesses, transport projects and mining operations, to rallies for Palestine, health, women\u2019s rights and Indigenous land demarcation. One demand that has emerged from civil society groups this year is a call for a new formalised body, the so-called Bel\u00e9m Action Mechanism (Bam), which would accelerate, coordinate and support a \u201cjust transition\u201d towards a low-carbon economy and \u201corient the entire international system behind people-centred transitions at local and national levels, where workers and communities are in charge of decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods\u201d, according to the Climate Action Network.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of events have been peaceful and some joyous, including a performance by the celebrated Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are excited about in Brazil is that this country has a culture and a history of mass movements which really push political decisions for social change,\u201d said Kudakwashe Manjonjo, who is an adviser for Power Shift Africa and part of the Climate Action Network.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be part of all the demonstrations that are happening both in and outside the conference to push for climate finance, just transition and support for adaptation \u2026The global south is mass-led. The Cop coming to Brazil has shown that spirit. We have seen Indigenous people becoming part of the process in a way that just isn\u2019t possible in the global north.\u201d<\/p>\n
Louiza Salek, with the working group on Indigenous food sovereignty, said it was good to be part of the fight. She was singing \u201cBam Bam Bam Bam\u201d to the tune of La Bamba with dozens of others in the hallway of the Cop to draw attention to the Bel\u00e9m Action Network, which wants leaders to step up their climate actions. \u201cAfter three Cops with absolutely no demonstrations allowed, I feel like people want to be heard. We are all together and mobilising. We are in a democratic country where we can take actions. And this feels good. We need to be together collectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside the conference halls negotiations continued. On Thursday the official negotiating hours were extended to 9pm in order to deal with the four particularly thorny issues on which the presidency is taking special consultation. These are focused around finance, trade, emissions-cutting pledges and transparency. A similar extension was expected on Friday night, but in practice, talks could go on much later as Brazil strives to achieve progress in the consultations ahead of a stocktake session on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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