At the end of the Leaders’ Summit preceding the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties, the Government launched the Belém Declaration on Combating Environmental Racism, which was endorsed by 19 countries. The document recognizes that “the impacts of the climate crisis and environmental degradation fall disproportionately on indigenous peoples, traditional communities, black people and other historically vulnerable groups, and calls on states to cooperate in actions to address them.” In his opening remarks at the conference on Monday, President Lula once again spoke on this topic.
- COP 30: The worst climate contradictions are now on Lula’s table
- COP 30: Quilombola communities of African descent demand recognition and climate justice in Belém
Recognizing the necessity of including environmental racism in global discourses to combat the climate crisis represents an important call for commitment to combating hunger and poverty. Moreover, it gives central importance to the most affected people, who are disproportionately affected. We have drawn attention to the urgent need to include what Black women, traditional communities and other groups on the front line of climate impacts in their communities are thinking and proposing, and to collaborate in implementing policies, actions and initiatives at all levels of governance to adapt to extreme climate conditions – says Monica Sacramento, Program Coordinator at the NGO Criola.
For Monica, recognizing the connection between the climate agenda, human rights and environmental racism represents progress in global discussions on climate justice. He says the next step is to transform the political content of the Belém Declaration into concrete actions.
We hope that the topic will be at the center of discussions and will promote policies that place environmental racism as central to a more just, inclusive and effectively transformative agenda.
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The NGO Creola delegation is participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) with 15 women, which is unprecedented in the organization’s history.
– This achievement is historic, because it breaks centuries of exclusion in which Black women have been prevented from occupying spaces where decisions that impact their lives and the planet are made.
What is environmental racism
The term environmental racism appeared in the United States in the 1980s and became part of United Nations reports as a global problem that must be confronted. This expression identifies a form of social and environmental inequality that mainly affects black, indigenous and poor communities.
According to the Fiocruz Center for Strategic Studies, “These communities suffer from the negative effects of environmental degradation and lack of access to natural resources and environmental services, while the more advantaged populations enjoy greater environmental protection and better living conditions.”
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