4 things to know about the...

For the first time in history, the world’s largest climate conference is heading to the heart of the Amazon. From November 10 to 21 2025, Belém do Pará, a vibrant city rich in biodiversity and culture and home to 1.3 million people, will host the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP30.

Back in 1992, Brazil left its mark on global environmental history with the Earth Summit (ECO-92) in Rio de Janeiro, a landmark event that laid the groundwork for today’s climate governance and gave rise to the very convention that now returns to the country.

Now, in a moment marked by geopolitical instability, sluggish energy transitions and mounting pressure on climate pledges made under the Paris Agreement, the world turns its eyes toward the Amazon once more. This year’s COP will serve as a critical stocktake, assessing the decade of progress since the Paris climate goals were set.

From Belém, where the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) have an office and teams advancing nature-based solutions for the Amazon, we share four key insights to understand the capital of Pará and the bold climate agenda Brazil is promoting and bringing to the table.

1. Riverine, Amazonian and Latin American Belém

Look up at a map or walk through its streets and it becomes clear: rivers define the  Pará’s capital. The city sprawls across 42 river islands and is framed by the Guamá River and Guajará Bay.  These waterways have long shaped their economy and culture, with boats delivering the world’s popular açaí, shrimp, cassava flour and other regional staples to bustling market ports.

The flow of the waters has shaped both land occupation and the city’s rich ethnic and cultural diversity. The floodplains have also guided the city’s settlement patterns. Many outer neighborhoods trace their roots to riverine, farming and forest-extractivist communities from rural Pará, bringing a cultural richness unique to this part of Brazil.

In these neighborhoods, the city bursts with life and reveals its most Amazonian and Latin American side.  Loudspeakers spill music into the streets – not only brega, a genre continually reinventing itself across generations, but also cumbia, lambada, reggae, and merengue. The Caribbean rhythms bring Belém culturally closer to Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela than to southern Brazil. The local food culture, deeply tied to the Amazon biome, is also one of the city’s attractions.

This vibrant setting, full of social contrasts and rich cultural expressions, will host a climate conference aiming to mobilize actions for the future of the Amazon and the planet.

2. Brazil seeks to lead transformative decisions

Two historic milestones will be marked at COP30: twenty years since the Kyoto Protocol and ten years since the Paris Agreement.

“The Paris Agreement is working, but there is still much to be done,” said Brazilian ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, COP30 President, in his first official letter. In it, Corrêa do Lago urged the international community to reflect on the shared human values of all nations and stressed the importance of more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

“National leaders must honor their commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Human lives depend on it, future jobs depend on it, healthy environments depend on it,” he stated.

In an open letter, the Climate Observatory—a coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations—called on the Brazilian government to use its leadership to advance urgent actions on energy transition, NDCs, safeguards, adaptation, and climate justice, with special attention to the unequal impacts on vulnerable groups. “And who better to lead this discussion than Brazil—a major developing economy that must eradicate poverty and is also a major oil producer,” the letter addressed to President Lula and Environment Minister Marina Silva reads.

3. Civil society in motion 

Organized civil society, movements, activists and scientists are demanding recognition and greater participation in the crucial Belém climate debates that will take place in Belém. The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) launched an Indigenous NDC, recognizing the vital role of traditional peoples and communities in climate mitigation, adaptation, and ambition. 

Local initiatives in Belém are also pushing for greater climate justice and the empowerment of those most affected by the crisis. Since 2023, youth from Belém’s urban outskirts have organized the COP das Baixadas (Lowlands COP), a grassroots advocacy movement featuring climate education, cultural events, recreation and sports activities in their communities. “It’s a network that aims to collectively envision and build ‘the COP we want’ in the Amazon, on the road to COP30 in Belém do Pará,” they explain. 

Training for Indigenous Peoples in preparation for COP30. Photo by Rafa Neddermeyer / COP30 Amazônia Brasil / PR

4. Solutions from the Amazon to the world 

After years of rising deforestation, Brazil’s Amazon states succeeded in reducing deforestation by 30% between August 2023 and July 2024, compared to the previous year.

Despite continued concerns about criminal fires and forest degradation, solutions are emerging from local traditional communities, longstanding stewards of the Amazon biome.

“The agroforests of Pará show the world that it’s possible to produce, sustain livelihoods and conserve at the same time. By blending traditional knowledge with applied science, these regenerative systems combine food security, income generation and environmental preservation, all through diversified production systems,” explains Alison Castilho, CIFOR-ICRAF Brazil’s territorial coordinator. CIFOR-ICRAF has operated in Brazil since 2004 and maintains two offices in the Brazilian Amazon (Belém and Tomé-Açu), promoting Nature-based Solutions as responses to the climate crisis.

Our thematic teams will bring to COP30 in Belém insights and knowledge rooted in our work across the Amazon and other key regions such as Africa and Asia, highlighting the power of trees, forests, and agroforestry systems to tackle climate impacts, biodiversity loss, inequality and food insecurity—for a more sustainable world for all. Keep an eye out for what we’re planning to bring to Belém.