When Cop30 convened in Belém, deep inside the Amazon, the world’s attention turned once again to negotiations, emissions pledges and political manoeuvring. The global stage was set against one of Earth’s most biodiverse landscapes and some of its most vulnerable communities, yet the conversation still leaned heavily toward geopolitics rather than people.
Inside the crowded halls of the UN climate summit, Cop30, human stories were everywhere. Posters showed survivors of recent hurricanes, farmers battling crop loss and Indigenous leaders fighting for the survival of their territories. But these voices rarely made it into the mainstream narrative.
