PBI notes COP30 caravans, assemblies and calls for the protection of environmental defenders
Image by France 24: “Brazil and Colombia were the two countries where the most environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2021, followed by the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras.”
Peace Brigades International (PBI) teams are monitoring the various initiatives being planned to highlight and amplify the voices of front line environmental defenders in the lead-up to and during the United Nations COP30 climate conference that will take place this coming November 10-21 in Belém do Pará, Brazil.
Environmental defenders continue to be killed
On November 6, 2021, the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) tweeted that an image of Berta Caceres was projected onto a building in Glasgow, Scotland during COP26. Caceres was murdered in March 2016, just months after COP15 in Paris. Global Witness has documented on an annual basis the number of defenders killed and that “over 1,500 defenders have been murdered since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on climate change on 12 December 2015.”
No “concrete protections” for environmental defenders
On March 24, Shauna Gillooly and Simón Escoffier from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile noted: “The UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) framework – established under Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement [that was, as noted above, agreed to at COP21 in 2015] … recognises that education, awareness and participation are essential for achieving climate goals by fostering a society-wide response to the crisis.”
They then comment: “[Latin America] is the deadliest for climate activism, with alarming levels of murders of environmental defenders. Yet [the Action for Climate Empowerment framework] provides them with no legal or financial support or concrete protections or tools to hold governments and corporations accountable.”
Virtual Global Women’s Assembly, June 23-28
On March 8, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) announced they are organizing a virtual “Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond!” that will take place June 23-28.
The Global Women’s Assembly will include a session on June 27 titled: “Implementing the Escazu Agreement: Protecting Women Land Defenders and the Defense of Nature in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
The Call to Action from a previous Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice in the lead-up to COP26 stated: “We call on all governments to respect the right of freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and to immediately halt the criminalization of land defenders, whose efforts are central to a climate-just world.”
Lawlor calls on Brazil to make COP30 safe for defenders
On March 5, Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, stated: “There is a great opportunity with COP30 in Belém this year. The Climate COP has historically been a hostile and risky space for human rights defenders. I urge the Brazilian authorities to change that.”
Caravana de Cali a Belém
On February 27, Susana Muhamad launched “the ‘Caravana de Cali a Belém’ initiative to create broad citizen participation towards UN Climate Change Conference COP30 taking place in November 2025 in Belém do Pará (Brazil).”
Mesoamerican Caravan to begin October 12
On February 19, the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT) issued this “pre-call” for a “Mesoamerican Caravan for Climate and Life” that is “to be held between October 12 and November 10, 2025”. The route of the caravan begins in Mexico, then crosses through Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Colombia before arriving in Brazil for the start of COP30.
Anti-COP and People’s Summit
And in December 2024, Bernardo Jurema, a Potsdam, Germany-based climate researcher, noted: “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.”
In August 2024, a National Plenary was held in Brazil along with “the public launch of the Peoples’ Summit” and “discussions about the Summit’s role at COP30”. Their “manifesto” calls “upon organizations, networks, collectives, and social movements from various sectors to build the People’s Summit towards COP 30, capable of mobilizing public opinion, strengthening participatory and popular democracy, denouncing and blocking setbacks, as well as pressuring decision-makers in Brazil and around the world.”
We continue to be attentive to updates about these gatherings.
Peace Brigades International will also be announcing its plans shortly, including webinars highlighting the protection needs of environmental defenders.
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