The Belém Agenda at COP30: Justice, Transition, Action

One of SEARCH’s graduate research fellows at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Imane Darkaoui is on-site participating in COP30. After a logistically challenging journey from Monterey, California, to Belém, Brazil, earlier this week, Amany’s first report from COP30 has arrived.

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The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the annual meeting for all the parties of the United Nations, and it’s the sole official meeting to take tangible action on climate change. Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, every five years, parties are to publish their pledges and plans for the next ten years; these plans are called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs. This year’s COP30 is the most important since the Paris Agreement, as it will be the last chance for parties to negotiate their contributions before the milestone 2030 Agenda.

Luckily for Indigenous communities around the world, this COP is being called the ‘COP of Amazonia,’ or, as President Lula calls it, the ‘COP of Truth,’ because it is being held in the heart of the Amazonia. COP30 also features the largest representation ever of Indigenous and local communities.

As an Indigenous person, I am thrilled to share my participation in this COP in Belém, where I will be leading the Middlebury Delegation and advocating for climate justice and a just transition. My work with the YOUNGO — the United Nations’ constituency for children and youth — is essential for this mission. We will be advocating for self-determination to be associated with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, calling for direct funding for Indigenous communities under the Just Transition framework, and negotiating what the Belem Action Mechanism means for Indigenous communities and the Global South. The working group has prepared a proposal — which you can see here — and that we will be pushing for.

As part of the just transition advocacy, I am also volunteering with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative to push back against fossil fuel lobbyists and gather as many party signatures as possible to ratify the treaty. This COP has accredited more badges for Indigenous community organizations and civil society than we have ever had in the history of the COPs. 

For all these reasons, we will make the Amazonia roar!

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Imane Darkaoui

Belém, Brazil