International Once through the jungle: activist ship reaches COP30
3000 kilometers by boat from the Andes to the Amazon: this is how more than 60 indigenous activists traveled to the World Climate Conference in Belém, Brazil.
11.11.2025, 05:18
SDA
"We started in Ecuador and then traveled to Peru, Colombia and Brazil to get to know and understand the different realities of the areas in this fragile ecosystem, the Amazon," says activist Leo Cerda as the "Amazon Flotilla" arrives at the port of Belém, accompanied by colorful flags and militant battle cries.
Together with representatives of other indigenous communities, Cerda wants to make his voice heard at the World Climate Conference. His fellow campaigners come from Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Brazil and Mexico, among other countries. They wear bright colors, huge flower earrings, feathers in their hair or traditional paintings on their faces.
Many peoples - one mission
As different as their backgrounds are, they have a common mission, as the activists emphasize: Climate justice can only be achieved if the expansion of oil production is stopped and indigenous peoples who protect the rainforest are given direct and effective financial support.
"The current climate financing system is a labyrinth that is designed to make us fail," criticizes Katty Gualinga from Ecuador. While subsidies for fossil fuels continue to flow in rich industrialized countries, "we are being asked to save the planet without resources".
Amazon not only essential for indigenous people
Cerda is also clear: "You can't expand the fossil fuel industry in this fragile ecosystem, because the resources come from the Amazon and the Amazon can no longer hold out." The ecosystem is "very important for the world - not just for indigenous people, but for the global climate itself."
