Below are remarks that UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell delivered at the COP30 Presidency Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples in Belém, Brazil, on 13 November 2025.
Excellencies,
Distinguished Indigenous Leaders and Elders,
Friends,
We meet here in Belém - in the living heart of the Amazon - where rivers meet the ocean, and every breath reminds us of the deep interconnection between people and planet.
I pay my deepest respects to the Indigenous Peoples of these lands, whose stewardship continues to sustain life here, and whose wisdom has long shown what true resilience and coexistence mean.
This dialogue reflects what the COP30 Presidency has called for throughout this process: reconnection, with one another and with nature - of which we are a part, not in charge of.
For centuries, Indigenous Peoples have lived this truth - showing that the purest climate action cannot be confined to a policy document. It is a relationship - of responsibility, reciprocity, and respect.
Indigenous Peoples remind us that the health of our lands, waters, and skies are inseparable from the health of our communities, our economies, and our shared future.
This is the spirit we must carry through COP30: to turn credible commitments into holistic delivery, and through that delivery, achieve true transformation.
Across the UNFCCC process, Parties have recognised the rights, values, and knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples.
But too often, these words have not translated into lived experience.
Our task is to move from citation to application - ensuring that Indigenous worldviews and leadership help shape how climate action is designed, implemented, and measured.
I want to assure you that UN Climate Change remains committed to supporting that vision - through practical, principled action.
First, by strengthening the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples across our processes - ensuring your knowledge and voices inform decisions on adaptation, just transitions, and finance.
This includes upholding the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
Second, by applying the Care Principles developed by the Facilitative Working Group as a model for how we work across the system.
And third, by embedding Indigenous knowledge and rights into the technical work that underpins delivery - reflecting real experience in indicators, budgets, and action.
This dialogue is not a one-off.
It is part of a continuing partnership - one that must guide how we move from this COP in Belém into the years ahead.
Because achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement means restoring a sustainable relationship with nature - and with those who have safeguarded it the longest.
It means drawing on all forms of knowledge - scientific, technical, and Indigenous - to create a world that is not only liveable, but just.
So today, we listen.
And what we hear must shape what we do - in the organs, funds and mechanisms of our shared process, in every decision made, and in every action that follows.
To the Indigenous leaders gathered here: thank you for your leadership, your insights and your engagement.
Your voices carry wisdom the world needs right now, and needs more than ever.
May this dialogue bring that wisdom ever closer to the heart of climate action.
Thank you.
