On Tuesday in Belém, ministers from Colombia, Germany, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom and several other countries expressed strong support for Brazil’s proposal to elevate the issue in this year’s round of UN climate negotiations.
The coalition called on negotiators to strengthen language around the transition away from fossil fuels in the draft text, scheduled for approval on Wednesday. Their objective: to accelerate action and keep global warming to less than 1.5°C.
Then silence fell. Ministers listened COP30 Youth champion Marcele Oliveira came forward, carrying the urgency of an entire generation.
“Fossil fuels destroy dreams,” she warned, calling their abandonment “the most important mobilization for climate justice of this generation.”
Marcele Oliveira, COP30 Youth Climate Champion, speaks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil.
Protect the future
Talk with UN NewsMs Oliveira stressed that children and young people must be at the heart of every COP30 discussion.
“We had a decision of the International Court of Justice declaring that countries’ inaction on climate change constitutes an environmental crime. Therefore, we need to put pressure on countries to make better climate decisions, and this is also a priority,” she told us.
“Of course we need to move away from fossil fuels, invest in protecting forests and protect those who protect them. And of course, for young people, recognition of collective action at the local level, led by young people, is very important.”
Guterres: a “decisive battle”
Later in the day, the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres met the young delegates and offered an apology – heavy with gratitude. Past generations, he said, failed to contain the climate crisis. Scientific projections confirm that temperatures will exceed the threshold of 1.5°C.
He has now urged young people to join him in what he calls the “decisive battle” to ensure this overrun is as short as possible.
The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, he stressed, is essential and requires confronting powerful pressure groups that “put profits ahead of the well-being of the international community and the planet.” Pressure from young people, he declared, is essential at COP30.
“We just want to be kids!” »
João Victor da Silva, 16, from Brazil, told the UN chief: “We don’t want to be activists, we just want to be children and teenagers, but unfortunately adults don’t make the right decisions.” »
From Aruba, Nigel Maduro shared a painful truth: the beaches where he learned to swim are disappearing. Negotiations, he warned, are moving slowly – perhaps too slowly for his island nation, facing soaring temperatures and rising seas.
Young people from several countries echoed the same call: act now to guarantee a livable future.
The Secretary-General recognized that greater participation of young people – particularly those from indigenous communities – would lead to better results. He acknowledged calls for more direct and less bureaucratic funding for indigenous peoples and pledged to improve the conditions to make this possible.
Children make their voices heard at the United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil.
“The demonstrations are a determining element of COP30”
Indigenous leader Txai Suruí described the youth meeting as one of the most promising moments of COP30. But she warned that the Amazon is moving dangerously close to a tipping point that could push the forest toward desertification.
“The demonstrations are a distinctive feature of this COP, because [though] Some countries may not like them, but Brazil is a democratic country and the protests also serve to ensure that these leaders actually make pro-life decisions.”
Ms. Txai stressed that corporate lobbying remains more important than all delegations combined – and certainly more important than indigenous representation – creating an imbalance of votes. Yet she notes a growing recognition of indigenous communities as stewards of nature.
A “just transition”
In the meantime, for Ms. Oliveira, the transition to fossil fuels must be fair: an approach that “listens, welcomes and hears the territories”. Measures such as the demarcation of indigenous lands, she said, are essential to ensure this change does not further harm already affected populations.
UN NewsEastreport from Belémgiving you front row coverage of everything happening at COP30.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
