Canada signs Declaration at COP30 that commits to proactive policies for the safety of environmental journalists and defenders
Photo by UNESCO.
A growing number of countries, now including Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, have signed a “Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change” at COP30 in Belem, Brazil.
The Declaration includes the language:
“Concerned by the growing impact of disinformation, misinformation, denialism, deliberate attacks on environmental journalists, defenders, scientists, researchers and other public voices and other tactics used to undermine the integrity of information on climate change, which diminish public understanding, delay urgent action, and threaten the global climate response and societal stability
We call on Governments to:
Create and implement policies and legal frameworks aligned with international human rights law that promote information integrity on climate change, and respect, protect and promote human rights, including the right to freedom of expression and access to information; and ensure the safety of environmental journalists, defenders, scientists, researchers and other public voices”
At the launch of the Initiative, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay commented: “Through this initiative, we will support the journalists and researchers investigating climate issues, sometimes at great risk to themselves, and fight the climate-related disinformation running rampant on social media.”
And this United Nations statement headlined “Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change” summarizes: “The Declaration – endorsed by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay – establishes shared international commitments to tackle climate disinformation and promote accurate, evidence-based information on climate issues. The Declaration also calls on governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and funders to address the impact of disinformation, misinformation, denialism and deliberate attacks on environmental journalists, defenders, scientists and researchers that undermine climate action.”
Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF) comments: “The commitments made by the signatory states include … the implementation of proactive government policies to ensure the safety of environmental journalists…”
RSF further notes: “Around the world, journalists who investigate and report on issues related to the environment, natural resources and their management are regularly obstructed from doing their jobs, threatened and attacked for exposing operations such as illegal land exploitation, gold mining, deforestation and pollution. Over the past decade, nearly 30 journalists working on these topics have been killed…”
The RSF list of “30 journalists [who] embody [the] struggle for freely reported environmental coverage” includes the PBI-Guatemala accompanied Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc for his reporting on the Fenix nickel mine.
We continue to follow this.
PBI-Guatemala on social media:
“Yesterday [November 18, 2025], #PBI accompanied community journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc in El Estor, located in the department of Izabal. We visited the community radio station Xyaab’ Tzuultaq’a and Defensoria Q’eqchi’, which is leading strong resistance in the region, informing communities about mining operations and the violence occurring in the territory.
Because of their work, the radio station’s collaborators have suffered many threats, raids and criminalisation. Their commitment is to care for the land, water and well-being of the indigenous communities, guardians of El Estor, and that is why they continue to fight.
During the visit, we delivered our latest Popular Bulletin, on whose cover they appear. They were very happy and proud of their work of struggle and resistance since 2017. Popular Bulletin No. 17 is intended to highlight the importance of the work of community radio stations.
It is available for download and reading on our website (https://shorturl.at/tmDvQ). We continue to support Carlos Choc’s work as a journalist in his territory, in his struggle to build bridges between the different strategies of resistance in Izabal and make them visible.”
Coming soon!
Watch for our article on the PBI-Canada organized webinar on COP30 that took place on November 18, 2025, that featured Indigenous West Papuan environmental defenders Dina Danomira and Teddy Wakum along with Global Witness policy advisor/PBI-Canada Board member Javier Garate.
Further reading: Countries seal landmark declaration at COP30—marking first time information integrity is prioritized at UN Climate Conference (United Nations External Press Release, 12 November 2025).
