Four Brazilian environmental benchmarks to follow at COP30

With COP30 less than a month away, Brazil hopes to present itself as a leader in the environmental fight, and to this end, it relies on figures on several fronts.

Brazilian figures from government, science, activism, and the arts will set the tone for the UN climate conference from November 10 to 21 in Belém, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, a key player in the fight against climate change.

– Marina Silva –

The 67-year-old Minister of the Environment is recognized worldwide for her advocacy for the environment and Amazon preservation. Raised on a rubber plantation in the Amazon, she often cites her grandmother and a shaman uncle as early influences in her love for the forest.

In 2008, Silva left Lula's second government due to obstacles to his environmental agenda, although he never stopped defending the leftist leader, whom he returned to support in 2023.

But today it faces a challenging scenario, with a strengthened agribusiness, and has been under pressure for months for resisting an oil exploration project supported by Lula on the Equatorial Margin, in a maritime area near the Amazon.

“We all live with contradictions and these contradictions are being managed,” the minister declared this month.

Her objections drew criticism. One senator from the coalition even accused her of "hindering the country's development."

– Carlos Nobre –

After decades dedicated to researching the Amazon and global warming, meteorologist Carlos Nobre has become an international authority on climate change. He was a member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a team of scientists awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for highlighting the environmental threat.

"Populists and climate change deniers, like the president of the United States and our former president [Jair Bolsonaro], have positions that emphasize the enormous risk of climate change," Nobre, 74, told AFP.

Thirty years ago, this meteorologist predicted the risk of the Amazon becoming a savanna, a drier biome. Now that "savannization" has begun, he believes that with appropriate environmental policies, the country could not only halt degradation but also be one of the first major emitters to meet the Paris Agreement targets: "Brazil has all the conditions to lead the energy transition."

– Txai Suruí –

At COP26 in 2021, Indigenous activist Txai Suruí appeared before the world at age 24 with a speech against "the issuance of false and irresponsible promises." Four years later, she has just been appointed climate advisor to the UN Secretary-General.

Approximately 1.7 million Indigenous people live in Brazil, some of them in protected areas that cover one-seventh of the country. Preserving these territories reduces deforestation.

The daughter of two veteran land defenders of the Amazonian Paiter Suruí people, Txai founded the Indigenous Youth Movement of Rondônia, her home state.

A young face of indigenous activism in the country, Txai defends ancestral traditions and relies on technology to combat land invaders and "save the forest," he told AFP in 2023.

– Fafa from Belém –

Everyone associates Belém, the host city of COP30, with one artist: singer Fafá de Belém, a defender of the Amazon.

With thirty albums recorded and millions of records sold, the singer continues to sell out shows at 69 and inspire fans. In 2024, the São Paulo samba school Império da Casa Verde dedicated its parade to her.

Maria de Fátima Palha de Figueiredo, her birth name, will give a presentation during COP30, with one eye on the stage and the other on the negotiations: she hopes that the people of the Amazon will be “at the center of the decisions.”

Three years ago, at a climate action meeting in New York, Fafá expressed outrage at the absence of Amazonian representatives. She then founded Varanda da Amazônia, a discussion forum that brought together over a thousand Amazonian thinkers in its latest edition.

"When we talk about climate change, we're talking about data, graphs, and scientific reports that are fundamental, but don't always reach people's hearts. Art builds that bridge," Fafá told AFP.

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