Why COP30 Needs Indigenous Voices

From India to the Amazon, Indigenous and localized community action has led to decrease in endangered species populations, reductions in poaching and greater conservation of large parts of protected forest. With COP30 poised to have the biggest Indigenous representation than any other COP before it, their voices must not be forgotten.

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With COP30 underway in Belém, Brazil, the voices of Indigenous people and local communities are taking centre stage in unprecedented numbers. This year marks the largest participation of Indigenous leaders in the summit’s history, with about 2,500 Indigenous people expected to attend. 

Their presence represents a fundamental truth about climate action: the most effective conservation efforts are driven by communities with the deepest connections to the land.

Indigenous people comprise just 6% of the global population, yet their role in reducing deforestation and preserving ecosystems is undeniable. Areas legally recognized as Indigenous territories consistently demonstrate lower deforestation rates and higher reforestation rates compared to government-protected forests. 

This pattern holds true far beyond the Amazon, as communities worldwide prove that collective action delivers measurable environmental results.

Collective Action to Save the Great Adjutant Stork

In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, thousands of local people, primarily women, have been instrumental in conserving the Great Adjutant stork.

A central figure of this movement was wildlife biologist Purnima Devi Barman. She was determined to do something to conserve this now iconic species after witnessing a nesting tree being cut down, resulting in dead and badly injured chicks lying on the ground. 

Rather than implementing top-down conservation measures, Barman focused on changing local perceptions of the storks from being viewed as filthy animals to a symbolic species. Through organizing small meetings with local villages in her community, she drew on Hindu mythology and highlighted the stork’s ecological role as a scavenger removing dead animals from the landscape. 

Thanks to the efforts of the local community, the species’ local population in Assam has quadrupled, from 750 in 2007 to more than 1,800 in 2021. The area is now home to the largest Greater Adjutant nesting colony in the world, and the IUCN recently reclassified the species from Endangered to Near Threatened. 

In 2024, Barman received the Whitley Gold award and funding that she plans to use to expand community conservation efforts to other Indian states and to Cambodia, the storks’ other breeding ground. Her ambition is to increase the global population to 5,000 birds by 2030. 

Community Cooperatives for the Protection of a Guatemalan Forest 

In the 1990s, 10 Guatemalan communities in the Petén province received 25-year community forest concessions, allowing them to sustainably harvest timber and non-timber products. The success of these concessions in combatting illegal logging and cattle ranch encroachment in protected forests has been inconsistent. However, in some concession areas, the deforestation rate over the 25-year period remained at just 0.4%, with these concessions eventually being renewed. 

Nine out of 10 concessions remain active today, operating across 350,000 hectares within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO protected site.

The success stems from the involvement of local communities in managing the areas they depend on for their livelihoods. Community forest concession areas have translated into specific forest businesses, including sustainable timber and ramón nut harvesting. Between 2003 to 2021, these businesses generated over $69.6 million for concession communities. During this time period, poverty rates in the concession communities remained significantly lower than other parts of Guatemala. 

Cross-Border Conservancies in East Africa

45 pastoralist communities in Northern Kenya and Uganda participate in a coalition of community conservancies under the Northern Rangelands Trust. Since 2004, these conservancies have replanted forests, restored wetlands, and dramatically reduced poaching of endangered species. The number of cases of elephant ivory poaching in the conservancies dropped from 103 in 2012 to zero in 2023.

Overcoming historic rivalry and conflict has been crucial to the success of this cross-community initiative. Regular peace meetings ensure that the cohesive outputs of the conservancies continue, with the collective focus being on the protection of shared land and water. 

Indigenous Knowledge Alongside Western Conservation Methods

In the lead up to COP30, alliances between Indigenous people and international communities will be paramount in ensuring the protection the Amazon needs. 

A longstanding project between international organisations and indigenous groups, is the Kayapo project. Established in 1989, it is an Indigenous-led NGO alliance aiming to ensure that the Kayapo people maintain autonomy over their land in the Southeastern Amazon. Their land covers 10 million hectares of indigenous land – an area near the size of Portugal – and is the largest intact block of native forest in the Southeastern Amazon harbouring a rich biodiversity, including Giant Otters, Brazilian Tapirs, and white-cheeked spider monkeys. 

Through combining Kayapo knowledge with NGO surveillance technology including boats, four-by-four patrol vehicles, and expedition resources, the Kayapo people are able to protect their land from illegal loggers, miners and fishers. Strategic guard posting at vulnerable points alongside satellite technology has ensured that this area of the Amazon stands tall. 

Indigenous representatives from the Kayapo project will be present at several events at COP30, where Kayapo leaders will share their experiences as a leading example in Indigenous leadership and climate action.

Belém and Beyond

As COP30 hosts the first UN climate conference ever held in the Amazon, a location widely described as being at the “epicenter” or “heart of the climate crisis”, the active involvement of local and Indigenous people is vital when deciding the future of the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Indigenous communities are demanding seats at the table to ensure that Indigenous rights are at the heart of global discussions. 

The examples from Assam, Guatemala, East Africa, and the Amazon, demonstrate that conservation succeeds when communities manage the resources they depend on, when traditional knowledge works alongside modern technology, and when collective action overcomes individual gain. 

These grassroots models prove more can be achieved when communities work together with adequate recourse and funding. The question remains whether governments are willing to embrace community action as a fundamental tool in environmental management.

Featured image: UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth via Flickr.