COP30 will not only be marked by the formal negotiations or government announcements that traditionally attract attention. In Belém, the strength of Brazilian civil society was remarkable: diverse, dynamic and deeply articulated.
Hundreds of organizations, collectives, community movements, research institutes and traditional groups occupied the city with conversation circles, marches, meetings and social spaces that extended beyond the perimeter of the official conference areas. COP30 showed that the power of this social fabric goes far beyond the Blue Zone.
Belém has become a mosaic of voices that will continue to resonate. In addition to the Green Zone, the official conference space with free access to the public, the thematic houses have gained importance. Spread across the city, more than 70 have emerged as meeting points, debates and connections.
Many were organized by CSOs and groups who came together to rent their own spaces. Cas’Amazônia, the House of Socio-Environmental Journalism and Socio-Biodiversity, for example, has guaranteed an intense program of conferences, conversation circles and visibility spaces for initiatives aimed at addressing climate and socio-environmental challenges.
Some generated moments of integration and welcome, like Casa Ipê, which offered participants delicious Pará meals to accompany their debate cycles. In several of them, the programming was not limited to days of conferences: films, exhibitions, workshops, meetings between communities and researchers punctuated a circulation of ideas which will continue to exist in the months to come.
Some of these spaces are actually born to last. Casa Niaré will operate for an entire year. The location will be a coworking, café and store dedicated to bioeconomy initiatives and strengthening forest entrepreneurs, with an ongoing agenda. Examples of how the COP, upon arriving in a territory, can leave a social infrastructure that persists, expands and strengthens ties.
This vitality was not only expressed in the houses, it was also expressed in the streets. The Global Climate March brought together more than 70,000 people in Belém, a symbolic and political step. The protest is historic at the COPs, but did not take place at the previous two conferences because they were held in countries that do not allow acts of this type.
The resumption of the march reaffirmed something essential: democratic societies produce spaces for participation that shape the public agenda. This collective, plural and legitimate movement has shown that there is accumulated social energy to face the climate crisis with firmness and perseverance.
It is common for major events to produce earlier and later movements that are often larger than the official week. COP30 is no exception to this logic. The articulations made during the preceding and following months constitute a political and social legacy of great importance.
Among the various announcements, commitments and publication launches, articulations have also emerged, as was the case with Aja (Legal Alliance for the Amazon), a collective of jurists and groups engaged in the defense of socio-environmental justice who work in or for the Amazon.
The excitement observed in thematic houses, marches and parallel meetings highlights an engaged civil society, which reaffirms its capacity to influence public agendas beyond formal negotiation tables.
There are concrete fruits, proposals, commitments, networks, but there are also subtle, perhaps more lasting results, such as the renewal of alliances, the strengthening of local groups, the creation of permanent spaces and the emergence of improbable articulations between communities, researchers, businesses, governments and social movements.
COP30 did not resolve all the challenges and did not intend to do so. But he recalled something fundamental: facing the climate crisis requires the active presence of this articulated social fabric, a presence that Brazil, in all its diversity, demonstrates in abundance.
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