Online Peoples News – Special Report: – As the world edges closer to climate tipping points and deepening inequalities, more than 70,000 people from over 40 countries gathered in Belém do Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon, for the Peoples’ Summit Toward COP30, held from 12–16 November 2025. The assembly brought together an extraordinary mosaic of humanity—indigenous nations, peasants, forest communities, fishers, workers, women’s networks, youth, LGBTQIAPN+ communities, Afro-descendant groups, urban labour movements, and grassroots organizations from every continent.
For months leading up to the summit, communities exchanged knowledge, shared testimonies, and carried out local-level dialogues. In Belém, these exchanges culminated in a sweeping declaration that blends urgency with hope, grief with resolve. At its heart is a simple message: a livable planet requires centering people, not profit—care, not extraction—solidarity, not domination.
A Planet in Crisis — and a Call for Human Dignity
Participants voiced a shared concern: the world’s crises—climate disasters, wars, systemic inequality, and widespread displacement—are deeply interconnected. Delegates pointed to the rapid rise of authoritarian politics and the growing influence of corporations that profit from environmental destruction.
The declaration places moral responsibility on powerful governments and industries whose actions have accelerated climate breakdown. Yet, rather than focusing only on blame, the summit amplifies voices from communities living on the frontlines—those who face floods, fires, drought, resource grabs, and militarized violence on a daily basis.
In a deeply human tone, speakers emphasized that there is no life without nature, and no society without the work of care—the often invisible labor that sustains families, communities, and ecosystems.
Global Solidarity Across Struggles
The gathering became a meeting place for global struggles—from the Amazon to the Himalayas, from the Sahel to the Caribbean, from Palestine to Latin America.
The summit expressed profound solidarity with communities facing displacement, military occupation, or foreign intervention. It condemned violence against civilians and called for an immediate end to wars whose human and environmental costs are irreversible.
Crucially, it highlighted how climate justice cannot be separated from social justice, sovereignty, or peace. From Haiti to Nepal, participants shared stories that revealed a common thread: communities who care for their land and waters are often the same communities facing repression, land grabs, and loss.
Failures of the Current Global Response
The Summit’s declaration is blunt about the shortcomings of international climate negotiations. After decades of global conferences, many participants believe the world has not moved closer to addressing root causes of climate chaos.
They argue that market-driven climate solutions, often championed by wealthy countries, have failed to reduce emissions or protect vulnerable communities. The declaration specifically warns against financial schemes that dress themselves as climate solutions but deepen inequality and risk.
The message is clear: the climate crisis cannot be solved through the same systems that created it.
A Vision for Real Solutions Rooted in Peoples’ Knowledge
In contrast to top-down approaches, the delegates presented a set of people-centered solutions rooted in lived experience:
1. Land, Forests, and Territories
Communities called for formal recognition and protection of indigenous lands, which have consistently proven to be the best guardians of forests. They demanded zero deforestation, ecological restoration, and an end to destructive land-grabbing practices.
2. Food Sovereignty & Agroecology
The Summit advocated for popular agrarian reform, support for small farmers, and agroecological farming systems that nourish people while restoring ecosystems. As one speaker noted, “Healthy food comes from healthy land in the hands of its people.”
3. Cities That Care for People and Nature
Urban movements stressed the need for public transportation with zero fares, clean water, dignified housing, waste management, and green spaces—especially in marginalized neighborhoods most harmed by climate disasters.
4. Feminist and Care-Centered Policies
The declaration highlights the enormous, often overlooked labor that sustains life—care work, household labor, community care—and demands recognition, redistribution, and state support for this work.
5. Just and Sovereign Energy Transition
Communities insisted that genuine climate action requires phasing out fossil fuels while ensuring energy access, dignified jobs, and national sovereignty. They stressed that renewable energy must not become another form of exploitation.
6. Accountability for Environmental Destruction
Participants demanded full compensation for communities harmed by mining, dams, fossil fuel extraction, and climate disasters—and criminal prosecution of entities responsible for environmental crimes.
7. Fair International Financing
Delegates rejected climate financing models that deepen the debt crisis in the Global South. They called instead for democratic, transparent, reparative financing, including taxation of the wealthiest individuals and corporations that profit from extraction.
Defending Those Who Defend the Earth
The Summit paid tribute to land defenders, journalists, and community leaders who have been persecuted, imprisoned, or killed around the world. It called for stronger international legal protections for defenders of territories and ecosystems, insisting that when they protect land and water, they safeguard the future of all humanity.
A Declaration of Global Unity
In its closing words, the Peoples’ Summit underscores a shared belief: change must be organized from below, through unity, solidarity, and collective action across continents.
The declaration ends with a call that echoes across generations:
“Peoples of the world: Unite.”
It is a reminder that the climate crisis is not only an environmental issue, but a profound human challenge—one that demands courage, cooperation, and imagination.
As the world moves toward COP30, the Peoples’ Summit urges governments and global institutions to listen not just to negotiators and CEOs, but to those who live closest to the land, the forests, the rivers, and the frontline realities of a warming world.
Their message is unmistakable:
A different future is possible—but only if humanity stands together.