Caravan for the Climate and Life set to travel from Mexico to Brazil for the UN COP30 climate conference

Published by Brent Patterson on February 27, 2025

We are following the updates about the Mesoamerican Caravan for the Climate and Life that will begin in Mexico on October 12 and travel through various countries including Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia before arriving in Belém, Brazil on November 10 for the beginning of the UN COP30 climate summit.

This webpage notes: “Following the Agreements from the Global Meeting for Climate and Life held in November in Oaxaca, Mexico, and as part of the activities, meetings, and actions surrounding the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, we call for the Mesoamerican Caravan for the Climate and Life, to take place between October 12 and November 10, 2025.”

“The Caravan stands against the extractive mega-projects that are destroying our ecosystems and taking away our lands.”

“The violence in our communities is a consequence of armed conflicts between the state, paramilitary groups, and organized crime, operating with the permissiveness of corrupt governments. This violence, both direct and structural, has stripped communities of their dignity, land, and ability to live in peace.”

It concludes: “Let’s unite to mobilize, walk toward a common future where life, water, territory, and dignity are respected. Let’s go to Belém to challenge COP30 and all the powers that dispossess and destroy our lands and peoples. The fight for life, for land, for justice, is in our hands!”

The alternative forum in Belém

In his article Will COP30 Deliver for the Amazon — and the Planet?, Bernardo Jurema, a climate researcher at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, further highlighted: “Alternative forums, like the ‘anti-COP’ and the People’s Summit gatherings, will likely draw attention to voices often marginalized in official negotiations, further intensifying the dialogue around justice and equity.”

More than 1,500 environmental defenders killed

At the conclusion of the Global Meeting for Climate and Life: ANTICOP 2024, its 250 participants agreed to a final statement that noted:

“Activism in defense of land, territory, water, and nature is dangerous, and many of our comrades face stigmatization, harassment, repression, criminalization, and even murder. Since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, over 1,500 environmental defenders have been killed around the world—the vast majority in Global South countries. We demand safe spaces for activists, where they can heal and protect themselves physically, emotionally, and legally. We also propose creating networks and support mechanisms for legal, communication, technological, psychological, and physical and digital security for human rights defenders, land defenders, and environmental activists in the most vulnerable territories.”

We continue to follow this.