Climate 411

From the Territory to the Negotiating Table: Indigenous Preparations for COP30

By Bärbel Henneberger / Published: November 10, 2025
Sonia Guajajara_Indigenous Minister of Brazil, at the COParente process.

Sonia Guajajara_Indigenous Minister of Brazil, at the COParente process_Picture by Bia Saldanha

By Bärbel Henneberger and Bia Saldanha 

Today, the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) begins in the Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil. Since Belém was announced as host at COP28 in Dubai in 2023, Indigenous Peoples and local and Afro-descendant communities have been mobilizing across continents. After nearly two years – through local, national, and international gatherings – they arrive as leaders ready to shape climate action, including forest and biodiversity conservation. 

The world’s largest tropical forests play a key role in stabilizing our global climate. Indigenous peoples and local communities manage or have tenure rights over a significant portion of these forests, including over half of all remaining intact tropical forests. Their stewardship is crucial for global biodiversity conservation and climate, often outperforming government-managed protected areas in preventing deforestation. In the Amazon Basin – where roughly 30% of the land is Indigenous territory – the conference offers a historic opportunity to recognize Indigenous Peoples as key climate actors.   Read More »

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Article 6 At A Glance: A Decade of Progress and What’s Next

By Pedro Martins Barata / Published: November 4, 2025
Aerial forest landscape photo

Johnny Lye. iStock

By Pedro Martins Barata

The world needs every effective tool to cut pollution quickly and fairly – and Article 6 is one of them. It’s the Paris Agreement’s framework for countries to cooperate through carbon markets.  

Over the past decade, carbon markets and carbon credit integrity have significantly increased, rules have aligned, and this UN carbon crediting system has officially come online. This year in Belém, COP30 isn’t about renegotiating those rules; it’s about making them work – and making sure nature is part of the picture so finance reaches the people and ecosystems that can deliver near-term climate wins.  Read More »

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COP30 in Brazil Must Deliver for Nature and Forests – And the Stakes Have Never Been Higher

By EDF Blogs / Published: October 30, 2025

By Roselyn Fosuah Adjei  

Roselyn is a senior expert in REDD+, forest governance, and climate policy and a Distinguished Humphrey Fellow of the U.S State Department. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to EDF’s Forests team. 

Waterfall in tropical rainforest

Photo: Leslie Von Pless/ EDF

Most of us working in nature conservation think of the quickly approaching COP30 in Belém, Brazil, as the “Nature COP.”

The last time that title was used was at COP26 in Glasgow — a post-pandemic gathering that re-energized climate action after a year of global lockdowns. Glasgow gave birth to the Lowering Emission’s by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition’s first Letters of Intent with tropical forest countries, signaling unprecedented forest-finance momentum in the voluntary carbon market through an unusual blend of public and private finance. It also saw the launch of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, endorsed by over 140 countries pledging to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, and the UK-led Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, which charted a path toward deforestation-free commodity supply chains.  

But even with these gains, the world has been falling short in recognizing and financing nature’s role in sustaining a livable planet.  

Read More »

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The Role of INGOs in Conservation Has Never Been More Vital

By Annie Mark / Published: October 27, 2025
IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 panel, ‘From Exclusion to Empowerment: Transforming Conservation Finance to Uphold Indigenous Rights’. Panelists, left to right: Malih Ole Kaunga (Founder and Executive Director, IMPACT Kenya), Stefanie Lang (Executive Director, Legacy Landscapes Fund), Annie Mark (Senior Director, Global Partnerships, Environmental Defense Fund) and Joan Carling (Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International)

IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 panel, ‘From Exclusion to Empowerment: Transforming Conservation Finance to Uphold Indigenous Rights’. Panelists, left to right: Malih Ole Kaunga (Founder and Executive Director, IMPACT Kenya), Stefanie Lang (Executive Director, Legacy Landscapes Fund), Annie Mark (Senior Director, Global Partnerships, Environmental Defense Fund) and Joan Carling (Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International)

By Aarthi Sivaraman and Annie Mark

Our world is at a crossroads today. The biodiversity crisis is accelerating, with forests, rivers, and ecosystems that sustain people and wildlife under the growing strain of climate shocks. Worryingly, the global commitment to conservation funding is wavering even as the stakes rise. 

For example, Germany, long a leader in financing Indigenous tenure rights, is openly debating cuts, while development and climate finance face serious headwinds in the United States. Around the world, conservation is at risk of slipping down the agenda. But here’s the problem: the demand for action has never been louder. 

We know this because Environmental Defense Fund, along with its partners in the Coalition for Nature & People undertook research across Brazil, Zambia, and Indonesia to better understand how conservation projects funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA) are perceived and experienced by communities.  

Read More »

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From IUCN Congress to COP30, let science, Indigenous knowledge, and economics lead toward solutions that work for people and nature

By Angela Churie Kallhauge / Published: October 6, 2025

This October, a rare, once-every-four-years gathering is taking place in Abu Dhabi: The IUCN World Conservation Congress is where global experts and leaders meet to discuss nature conservation. It’s not just about protecting wildlife; it’s a vital opportunity to find smart, practical, and science-backed ways to meet our 2030 goals for people and nature. This event is a key moment to advance actions that tackle the connected problems of biodiversity loss and climate change together—a collaborative effort, much like the UN’s “Rio Trio” agreements, that could accelerate global action. 

This Congress comes just weeks ahead of the next United Nations climate conference, COP30, which will take place in the Amazon Basin, hosted by the city of Belém, Brazil. Hosting in this setting gives us the opportunity to cast global attention to the challenges and potential solutions unfolding in the wider Amazon region, for the communities living and sustaining the Amazon, and for biodiversity and nature at large.  Read More »

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