4 min readNew DelhiNov 16, 2025 01:15 PM IST
First published on: Nov 16, 2025 at 09:13 AM IST
Amazon rainforest highway protest: Around 100 people from Brazil’s Munduruku Indigenous group staged a protest on Friday (November 14), blocking the main entrance gate to the Blue Zone — the restricted area set aside for negotiators — at the ongoing COP30 in Belém.
This was not the first time that Indigenous protestors took centre stage at the climate summit. Dozens of Indigenous people on Tuesday (November 12) forced their way into the event after hundreds of demonstrators arrived at the venue.
Here is a look at why Indigenous people are protesting at COP30, and how the Brazilian government has responded to the protests.
Why are Indigenous people protesting?
The protests have taken place largely in response to the Brazilian government’s plans to build infrastructure in the Amazon rainforest. For instance, after the Friday demonstration, the Munduruku Ipereg Ayu Movement, in a statement, said, “President Lula (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva), we are here in front of COP because we want you to listen to us. We refuse to be sacrificed for agribusiness… Our forest is not for sale. We are the ones who protect the climate, and the Amazon cannot continue to be destroyed to enrich large corporations.”
Note that President Lula’s government in Brazil is in the process of building a highway through the forest. Besides, it has also granted a licence to the country’s state-run oil company Petrobras to explore for offshore oil 500 kilometres from the mouth of the Amazon River.
Indigenous protesters have demanded that these projects be halted. They also want a rejection of deforestation carbon credits.
In the fight against the climate crisis, protecting the Amazon rainforest is crucial. That is because the forest contained 71.5 billion tonnes of carbon, roughly double the global carbon dioxide emissions for 2022. However, some studies have shown that the Amazon has become an emissions source. Although this has been widely debated, the fact remains that the forest has become more vulnerable to destruction with rising global temperatures and due to human activities, such as deforestation.
In 2023, the Amazon saw an intense drought, which increased the instances of forest fires. For example, just in October 2023, the Amazonas state witnessed 2,700 blazes — the highest ever noted for the month of October since the records began 25 years ago, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.
A 2022 study, published in the journal Nature, revealed that the Amazon has become slower at recovering from longer periods of drought over the past 20 years and is nearing its tipping point. Beyond the tipping point, it would transform from a lush green forest into a drier open savanna, releasing a large amount of stored carbon, which would, in turn, exacerbate global warming.
How has the Brazilian government responded to the protests?
Ana Toni, the executive director of COP30, has called the protests “legitimate” and confirmed that the government is listening, according to a report by UN News.
The report added, “Protesters were directed to meet with the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, and the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva.”
Toni said, “Brazil has a strong democracy that allows for different forms of protest, both inside and outside the conference.”
COP30 Indigenous protests: Munduruku indigenous people block access to COP30 in Belem, Brazil, on Friday. (Photo: Reuters) 
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