By William James, Leonardo Benassatto and Simon Jessop
BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) -A day after Indigenous protesters stormed Brazil’s COP30 climate summit, country delegates returned to negotiating actions, policies and financing for tackling climate change with an air of calm.
The reopening had been slightly delayed for repairs to damage at the entrance from the previous night’s clash, in which the U.N. said two security guards sustained minor injuries, but there were minimal changes to the airport-style baggage checks.
Outside, two Brazilian navy vessels escorted a protest flotilla carrying Indigenous leaders and environmental activists around Belem’s Guajara Bay. Participants held signs saying “Save the Amazon” or calling for land rights and hundreds of people – including Indigenous leaders, the Amazon city’s residents and COP delegates – crowded the waterfront to watch.
The talks are taking place behind closed doors, but the Brazilian presidency has scheduled a public ‘stocktaking’ session later on Wednesday at which delegates can express their concerns around issues such as carbon taxes and finance for countries affected most by warming.
AL GORE TO ADDRESS THE SUMMIT
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore delivered his annual climate presentation to the summit – which the United States has snubbed this year, despite being the world’s biggest historical polluter since the Industrial Revolution.
After listing a string of recent extreme weather events across the world, from flooding to fires, Gore said: “How long are we going to stand by and keep turning the thermostat up so that these kinds of events get even worse?”
The brief, dramatic clash on Tuesday night underlined the tension at this year’s meeting, where President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has highlighted native peoples as key voices in deciding the world’s future and how forests are managed.
Indigenous groups from across Latin America sent representatives, with demands for an end to logging, mining, farming and fossil fuel extraction in the forest, which plays a vital role in soaking up carbon emissions.
Some delegates were unsurprised by the melee.
“It’s unfortunate that they went too far. But protest is what moves things along, in my mind,” said Jack Hurd, head of both the World Economic Forum’s Earth System Agenda and the Tropical Forest Alliance.
‘THE AMAZON IS AT A TIPPING POINT’
Among the 195 governments taking part, many have expressed concern about a splintering in global consensus around climate action — and have taken aim at the United States.
Indigenous leaders have said they are aghast at the ongoing industry and development in the Amazon.
A group representing Brazil’s Indigenous communities said it was not responsible for organizing Tuesday’s protest, but supported the “autonomy of all peoples to express themselves freely and democratically, without any form of paternalism – the kind that the State imposed on us for so many years.”
“We are here to keep demanding real commitments and to reaffirm that the answer is us,” the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil said in a statement.
The world’s governments have so far failed to do enough to limit global warming increasing beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average — the threshold at which scientists say we could unleash catastrophic extremes.
Last month, scientists warned that the Amazon rainforest could begin to die back and transform into a different ecosystem, such as a savannah, if rapid deforestation continues as the global average temperature crosses 1.5C. It is predicted to do so around 2030, earlier than previously estimated.
Environmental activists praised the decision to hold COP30 near the rainforest.
“We are actually bringing climate negotiators and climate leaders to the heart of the forest to experience firsthand what it is to live here, remembering that the Amazon is at tipping point and that the population here are suffering,” Greenpeace Brazil’s executive director, Carolina Pasquali, told Reuters.
(Reporting by William James, Leonardo Benassato and Simon Jessop in Belem, Brazil; Writing by Katy Daigle; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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