Belém, Brasil, More than 5,000 people aboard around 200 vessels sailed together in the waters of Belém during COP30, to demonstrate against false climate solutions, such as carbon markets, and show that the answer to a sustainable world lies not with big polluters or nature destroyers, but within the ancestral knowledges and practices from Indigenous Peoples, coastal and local communities.
Greenpeace joined the flotilla with the Rainbow Warrior, which has been docked at the Federal University of Pará during COP30. The event included people from 60 countries, representing the strength and unity of civil society and Indigenous organisations from different nations.
Photos of the Peoples Summit Flotilla are available at the Greenpeace Media Library.
Carolina Pasquali, Executive Director, Greenpeace Brazil said: "The thousands of people in the flotilla today are showing the strength of a unified global movement — communities who have been impacted by extreme weather events and by companies profiting from the destruction of our planet, Indigenous Peoples who have been fighting for generations for their rights, their lands and the forest, and civil society demanding real action from world leaders and negotiators at COP. This must be the COP of action. Action for the climate, action for forests, action for people,"
Indigenous Leaders and community representatives from several countries joined the flotilla aboard the Rainbow Warrior, such as Trixy Sumabal Elle, representing climate impacted communities from the Philippines, Fransiska Rosari Clarita You, Indigenous Youth from Papua, Indonesia, Chief Marcos Xukuru, from the Xukuru people of the state of Pernambuco, and Luene Karipuna, Indigenous Leader from the state of Amapá in Brazil. A group representing the Movement of people affected by the construction of dams was also onboard.
Luene Karipuna, Indigenous Leader said: "We are here at COP30 to tell people that the answer is us Indigenous Peoples, our ancestral knowledge and the protection of our lands. Our territory is impacted by oil exploration in the Amazon and from the lack of respect for Indigenous rights. We need COP to discuss an energy transition to eliminate fossil fuels. This is a COP that needs decisions."
"We need to put the Indigenous lands at the centre of the debate, protecting them as a climate policy. The world needs to understand that the answer to the climate crisis is in the Indigenous territories and that we have the solutions. We have been living on Earth for thousands of years without destroying it."
At COP30, Greenpeace is calling for a Global Response Plan to address the 1.5°C ambition gap and accelerate emissions reductions in this critical decade; a new, dedicated 5-year Forest Action Plan to end deforestation by 2030; and the establishment of a new standing UNFCCC agenda item to drive NCQG delivery, particularly scaling-up public finance from developed countries, and advance polluter-pays taxation to unlock scaled-up public finance for developing countries.
