COP30, the 2025 UN Climate Conference, took place in Belém, Brazil, at the edge of the Amazon basin, one of the world’s most vital ecosystems. The setting mattered. Belém sits where the rainforest, river and Atlantic meet, a living reminder that land and ocean are one system and that climate impacts do not respect the boundaries of our negotiating tracks. With the world already flirting with dangerous thresholds, the challenge is not only to protect 1.5°C as an ambition, but to drive emissions down fast enough to limit overshoot and bring warming back towards 1.5°C over time.
Then the conference site itself made the point in real time. “No more empty promises” became a refrain across plenaries and pavilions. A pavilion caught fire, and heavy tropical rains flooded parts of the venue, collapsing the distance between negotiation language and lived reality. Indigenous groups led protests demanding protection of the land, grounding the moment in the truth that climate action must centre rights and those who have protected ecosystems for generations. For RISE UP, our goal at COP30 was simple: support frontline voices to show up with power and speak for themselves. This year, we supported four fellows to take part in COP30, three from Brazil and one Indigenous Caribbean youth from Aruba, championing youth, coastal communities, and Indigenous peoples in the ocean–climate decision making and bringing lived experience and practical solutions into the room. What follows are their reflections on what it meant to be there, what they contributed and what must come next.
Meet the RISE UP COP30 Fellows
Bruna Martins
During COP30, I spearheaded the articulation and mobilisation of the Coalition of Amazon Mangrove Guardians, a vital group composed of community leaders, youth, and women. My work focused on strengthening collective strategy and ensuring Amazonian coastal communities could define and advance their priorities in the COP space. This culminated in the development of a key document outlining the specific demands of Amazonian coastal communities, grounded in lived experience and frontline realities.
To amplify these priorities, I organised and moderated multiple panels centred on climate vulnerability, climate injustice, and the urgent need for mangrove protection as a pillar of equitable climate action. These included The Mangrove’s Urgent Call for Climate Action: Vulnerabilities, Climate Injustice, and Demands from Amazonian Coastal Communities, which elevated community led demands, and Our Mangrove Has Value, with People and Free of Oil, organised with the Cuíra Youth Network, highlighting the social, cultural, and ecological value of mangroves and resistance to extractive pressures. I also moderated and organised Tidal Kitchen: Women’s Protagonism in Amazon Mangrove Protection, spotlighting women’s leadership, care based practices, and traditional knowledge, and Tidal from the North: Coastal Governance and Local Knowledge for Coastal Management, centring community governance and local knowledge as essential to inclusive coastal decision making.
In addition, I moderated and co organised Between Tides and Leaves: A Dialogue Between Oceans and Forests, strengthening integrated approaches across ecosystems, and Ocean Plastic Pollution, focused on youth engagement, local impacts, and community solutions to reduce plastic pollution. My participation across events in both the Blue and Green Zones expanded my collaborative network, and this enhanced connectivity will be key to improving the effectiveness of local level conservation and protection efforts.
Learn more about Bruna and her work here: www.instagram.com/brunamangueologa
Nigel Maduro
When I attended COP30, I participated as part of two delegations: the Indigenous Clean Energy delegation and the International National Trust Organization. I was also present as the only Indigenous leader of the Caquetio Nation of Aruba and as a sustainability scientist advocating for what is happening across the Caribbean. Carrying those roles at COP30 was both powerful and challenging. While there was strong visibility for Indigenous peoples broadly, Caribbean Indigenous realities often remained a floating category, with regional groupings and narratives dominated by South America and Central America, leaving our experiences and priorities misaligned with the brackets used in many spaces.
Throughout the conference, I contributed to multiple events and panels focused on Caribbean priorities. At the CARICOM Pavilion, I spoke on Marginalised Communities in the Energy Transition in the Caribbean Region and on Tourism and Climate Change in the Caribbean Region, bringing attention to how climate impacts, development pathways, and energy transitions intersect across island contexts. I also joined the Great People’s March and was one of the very few Indigenous Caribbean leaders from the islands present. In addition, I engaged in multiple actions and discussions on Just Transition, including participation in a Nordic Pavilion session that framed Just Transition through human rights and the lived realities of climate activists and defenders. Alongside these engagements, I completed several interviews during COP30 to share reflections on Caribbean Indigenous perspectives and the urgency of ensuring our region is not treated as an afterthought in global climate spaces.
One of the most significant moments for me was participating in the UN Secretary General Youth Roundtable. As the only youth member from the Caribbean Islands, I was able to deliver a direct statement to the UN Secretary General, elevating the concerns and priorities of our region at the highest level. At the same time, I experienced first hand how exclusion can show up even within spaces designed for Indigenous participation. Too often, in the rooms dedicated to Indigenous peoples, I was marginalised and at times ostracised as the only Indigenous Caribbean person present. Despite this, I used the space to deliver interventions on our lack of representation and to advocate for follow up actions to ensure Caribbean Indigenous peoples are meaningfully included in UN processes and mechanisms going forward.
Connect with Nigel on LinkedIn here: www.linkedin.com/in/nigelmaduro95/
Sonia Violante Ptasznik
I attended COP30 as part of the Brazilian delegation, representing youth in advocacy efforts for ocean protection. Although I had official accreditation, I would not have been able to participate without the support of RISE UP, which was essential in covering travel costs and enabling my full and effective engagement. During the conference, I contributed as a panellist on Ocean and Coastal Pollution: What Is Happening Around the World?, where I highlighted the accelerating scale of plastic and microplastic contamination and joined a wider discussion on systemic drivers, prevention pathways, governance reform, and collective action to reverse current trends. I also served as a panellist on Sailing for Sustainability and Capacity Building to Achieve the SDGs, which centred youth capacity building as a driver of climate ambition and SDG delivery, with emphasis on peer to peer learning, global youth networks, and creative storytelling as tools to empower young leaders on the front lines of the climate crisis.
In addition, I organised and moderated Iuris Ocean: Citizen Science in Ocean Policy, an event designed to bridge ocean science, international ocean law, and public participation in policy processes. With a focus on Latin American blue diplomacy, the session elevated youth-led citizen science and inclusive governance as critical to equitable ocean decision making in the context of the triple planetary crisis. I also had the opportunity to be interviewed by several organisations, most notably the BBC, where I shared reflections on my COP30 experience and the importance of meaningful youth engagement in shaping climate and ocean outcomes. The House of the Voices of the Ocean was especially meaningful during my participation, not only because it hosted several high level events that deepened my understanding of ocean policy, but also because it offered a fully immersive space for the public, where the people of Belém could engage, learn, and connect with the youth working there. It was powerful to see art and science come together in a welcoming, inclusive environment that made ocean issues accessible to everyone.
Learn more about Sonia and her work exposing The Truth Behind the Amazon’s Just Energy Transition: Beyond the Green Promise here: www.arcg.is/eKyrO0
Aline Aguar
I attended COP30 as an NGO representative in my role as Chief Scientist at Ilhas do Rio, an initiative of the Mar Adentro Institute. I participated in the Mangrove Ministerial to deepen my understanding of the Mangrove Breakthrough, with a particular focus on the leadership and active involvement of local and Indigenous communities, and the importance of community-led action as a cornerstone of mangrove conservation and climate resilience. I also engaged in a session on Protecting Ocean Ecosystems: Marine Protected Areas as an Essential Pillar of Climate Resilience, which explored the role of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a key strategy for climate resilience and showcased Blue Nature Alliance initiatives in partnership with the Brazilian Government, positioning MPAs as a tool to safeguard socio-biodiversity and strengthen Brazil’s climate action agenda.
In addition to these engagements, I participated as a speaker in Hope In Action: Marine Conservation Across Brazil’s Hope Spots, highlighting locally led marine conservation initiatives and partnerships protecting critical ecosystems. I also co-organised several events focused on advancing ocean–climate cooperation, including Blue Partnerships for a Changing Climate: Advancing MPAs, Community Resilience, and Global Biodiversity Goals, which centred collaborative approaches to achieving biodiversity targets, and Keeping the Paris Spirit Alive: Global Cooperation and Partnerships for Ocean–Climate Action, which convened international actors to scale collective action for ocean resilience in support of the Paris Agreement. Finally, I co-organised Roda de Conversa GT Clima e Oceano, a dialogue based space for practitioners to exchange perspectives and strengthen coordination on ocean–climate priorities.
Learn more about Projeto Ilhas do Rio here: www.ilhasdorio.org.br
For RISE UP, the work does not stop at COP30. We will continue driving this agenda through our Ocean and Climate Cluster, keeping momentum high between moments like the SBs, Our Ocean, and COP31. That means supporting our fellows and members to stay engaged beyond the conference walls, translating outcomes and negotiating signals into practical next steps, and strengthening coordination across regions so that frontline priorities are carried consistently into national positions, campaigns, and public narratives. Most importantly, we will keep backing communities to speak for themselves, not only when the world is watching, but in the day-to-day work of shifting policy, power and resources towards a just, blue future.
If you’re an organisation or a frontline community member, you can join the Ocean and Climate Cluster and participate in the 2026 campaign here: https://forms.gle/gog1qta6L9NEF8568.
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