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At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, over 3,000 Indigenous representatives gathered alongside world leaders to shape the global climate agenda. At the center was Joan Carling, a lifelong human rights activist from the Cordillera region of the Philippines, who joined forces with organizations like APIB, ANMIGA, and If Not Us, Then Who. Together, they pushed for Indigenous-led funds and policies that recognize the knowledge, autonomy, and central role Indigenous communities play in protecting the planet.
Indigenous peoples make up just 5% of the global population, yet they safeguard 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Despite this, their lands continue to be exploited, and their leaders face threats, violence, and exclusion from major climate negotiations. At COP30, Indigenous leaders demanded the right to self-determination, the demarcation of ancestral territories, and the direct resourcing of their communities — because climate justice cannot exist without Indigenous leadership.
A $1.8 billion pledge to secure land rights marked progress, but many left COP30 with a lingering question: will promises turn into action? As global negotiations continue, Indigenous leaders like Joan Carling are holding governments and funders accountable, and inspiring a new generation to stand, speak, and lead in the fight for our shared future.
We created this video in partnership with the Skoll Foundation, whose vision is to live in a sustainable world of peace and prosperity for all. To solve the world’s most pressing problems, we need to trust those closest to the challenge. These are the solutions, people, and organizations making our world a better place for everyone.
- Those in power are using their might to further marginalize us, instead of recognizing the role that we do in protecting our environment. We need leaders that can speak out and say, "Enough is enough" when we are being killed, leaders that will be with us in the front when we continue to defend our rights, to defend our land, to defend the very resources that all of us rely on. Can you see? Can you see?
- No, I can see you.
- Oh no, you're looking at me. Sorry. The view. You see?
- Yeah. The mountains.
- Okay. I'm Joan Carling. I am from the Kankanaey people here in the Cordillera, Philippines. I dedicated my life in promoting human rights, justice, and social equity. Universal access to justice means ensuring the effective protection of our collective rights against land grabbing, displacements, and destruction of our cultural heritage by states and private sector. The work that I do, and also with with my colleagues, is not easy because we are dealing with those in power and it doesn't sit well with them when we call their attention, when we demand justice. I myself became a victim several times, being arrested and then being accused as funding terrorism. It's becoming a normal thing for activists like me to be facing these kind of threats and accusation. This COP is different because there will be high visibility of Indigenous Peoples. There will be social movements, and this is the moment to put a strong pressure to governments to demand the autonomy for us in protecting nature and biodiversity.
- [Reporter] We're broadcasting from the UN Climate Summit, that's COP30, from the Brazilian city of Belém.
- This is really a show of commitment and we hope that there will be more leaders to join this network. This is a matter of obligation for all of us now if we still want to survive in the planet that we have now. Thank you. The main demand of Indigenous Peoples in this COP is to ensure that our rights to our lands, territories, and resources are recognized and protected and that our free, prior and informed consent is a requirement. It's not just that we are victims, we are actually agents of change. We are actually the ones protecting the environment, and that has to be part of the equation. That has to be part of the discussion.
- I see Joan as one of my idols actually.
- I have met her in person only twice, but we have heard about her since 2012. If I see most of our people, they just speak, but not in action. But I see Joan is doing more onto action as well.
- Yes.
- Yes, let's go. Let's go because we may run out of seats. From our perspective, what we want to see in the outcome is there is a specific language on the security of land rights of Indigenous Peoples. It's good that the representatives of the regions were able to share the stories from each of the regions. What is missing though is the lack of response from the COP presidency and the UNFCCC. So there's really no interaction, no real dialogue that has transpired. I'm happy that this exchange took place, but at the same time, I also feel like it's not enough.
- [Reporter] Dozens of Indigenous protestors blocked an entrance to the United Nations Climate Conference in Brazil Friday morning. The sit-in forced delegates to use a side entrance to resume their negotiations on tackling climate change. Now, protestors are demanding the Brazilian government halt all development projects in the Amazon, including mining, logging, and oil drilling.
- We're late. Hello. Good morning. We're just waiting for some. I think they're delayed because of what's happening in front. Thank you for your patience.
- Now the exciting part is we want to hear back from you, from your discussions. We all need to rely on Indigenous science. Recall they're just ahead of Western science in terms of system thinking and understanding those interconnections across all the life-supporting systems on the planet and the best evidence base for protecting everyone's human right to a healthy environment.
- It's not an easy thing because we're dealing with the powers that be. We cannot say we protect Indigenous Peoples' rights, but also allow mining to come and destroy our lands. That's not compatible. So we need laws and policies that put human rights, Indigenous Peoples' rights at the center.
- We need to be strategic and think about what it looks like to build channels, to build a capillary network of public funding that can connect into our mechanisms for direct resourcing for Indigenous Peoples and their descendants, and local communities.
- We have the values and principles that will sustain the planet, and we have been doing this for centuries. What we are offering is partnership. We are not the enemies, that has to be acknowledged, and that our knowledge, our rights should be part of the solution.
- Self-determination for Indigenous Peoples is an affirmation that we should be recognized for who we are in terms of our language, our culture, and our ways of life. The western system should not be imposed on us and that we self-determine how we will progress, what kind of development we want, what kind of political system we have, what kind of economic system we will have, that is really in line with our culture, with our sustainable life ways, with our identities, with our social cohesion. The work is hard. It's stressful, I know. But what inspires me is that in spite of the difficulties that communities face, they are persisting. They are still there sacrificing and really challenging the powers. And that gives me hope. And what also gives me hope are the young people now. They are the present and the future leaders. They're standing up, fighting and saying, "Enough is enough, we want real leadership, we want real governance." And we need to support them on that.