{"id":81449,"date":"2025-08-29T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=81449"},"modified":"2025-08-29T21:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T00:55:12","slug":"towards-historical-reparations-and-intersectional-climate-justice-at-brazils-cop30-climate-conference-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=81449","title":{"rendered":"Towards Historical Reparations and Intersectional Climate Justice at Brazil’s COP30 Climate Conference [OPINION]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Rovena Rosa\/Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

For the original article by Mariana Galdino and Mariana de Paula published in Nexo Jornal, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In Brazil\u2014as around the world, but especially in the Global South\u2014it is impossible to talk about the climate crisis without addressing environmental racism<\/a>, gender<\/a> and class injustice. These are not side issues in the climate debate, but rather structural ones<\/a>. Neither can we discuss gender-based violence without intersectionality. Although it tragically affects all women, violence is marked by race<\/a>, sexuality<\/a>, location of origin<\/a>\u00a0and social class.<\/p>\n

According to the Ministry of Health, over 60% of reported cases<\/a> of violence against women<\/a> in Brazil involve Black women. The 2025 Atlas of Violence shows that over 68% of women murdered<\/a> in 2023 were Black. Brazil continues to lead the world in the number of trans women killed<\/a> in 2025, especially young, Black women from the country\u2019s Northeast, according to data from the Associa\u00e7\u00e3o Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais<\/a>. These figures not only expose the State\u2019s complicity in racist and patriarchal violence, but also reveal how overlapping forms of oppression shape the daily lives of Afro-descendant women.<\/p>\n

Today, according to<\/a> the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 54% of the Brazilian population self-identifies as Black<\/a>\u2014totaling nearly 113 million individuals. Black women make up around 30% of the population, or almost 60 million Brazilians. In the country\u2019s favelas, home to over 16 million people<\/a>\u2014more than the population of Portugal\u2014women are also the majority, accounting for approximately 51.7%. These areas face the selective absence of the State, the precarization of life, historical neglect<\/a>\u00a0and direct exposure to the impacts of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

Black women face daily water scarcity, extreme heat, food insecurity, limited mobility and the constant threat of extreme weather events such as floods and landslides. Even so, in the face of structural neglect and systemic violence, they are the ones who take the lead in sustaining life in their communities<\/a>. They mobilize collective responses to environmental and climate crises, ensuring food, care and protection\u2014but they are the last to benefit from care-centered policies and from national and international resources.<\/p>\n

The State\u2019s omission in formulating fair and equitable public policies for this group creates additional burdens and reinforces gender and racial inequalities. The care they provide<\/a> is not by choice\u2014it is imposed\u2014and must be recognized as labor, as a collective responsibility, and as a central issue on the political agenda.<\/p>\n

The Paris Agreement<\/a> now marks its 10th anniversary. Just from 2020 t0 2023, over 80% of Brazilian municipalities experienced disasters<\/a> associated with extreme weather events\u2014a significant increase compared to previous decades, which experts attribute to the worsening climate crisis. According to AdaptaBrasil<\/a>, a platform from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, over 66% of these municipalities have low or very low adaptive capacity<\/a>. This means such events continue to be met with a lack of public policy and unequal access to solutions. The climate crisis acts as a multiplier of injustice and social exclusion.<\/p>\n

For this reason, we speak of environmental and climate racism<\/a>: the bodies and locations that have always been the last to be heard and considered, continue to be the first to suffer the impacts<\/a>. If COP30 is to be a true milestone, it must recognize that there is no climate justice without racial and gender justice. And more than that: these dimensions must not be treated as side issues, but as central and cross-cutting guidelines in the formulation of policies, plans and budgets.<\/p>\n

It is urgent that UNFCCC agenda items\u2014such as the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), the United Arab Emirates Just Transition Work Programme, and the Gender Action Plan (GAP)\u2014fundamental tools of global climate governance\u2014take into account the world\u2019s unequal realities<\/a>. The Global South is the most affected by climate change<\/a>, yet remains the least politically represented in decision-making forums<\/a>. These mechanisms must recognize the centrality of regional contexts, peripheral voices<\/a>, Afro-descendant populations and Indigenous peoples, local and traditional communities, women and girls, people of diverse genders, and historically neglected locations.<\/p>\n

By hosting the next COP, Brazil has the responsibility not only of being the logistical host, but also of spearheading the conference\u2019s political and ethical leadership<\/a>. This means ensuring that the road to Bel\u00e9m is built collaboratively, with active listening and the protagonism of civil society organizations, social movements, youth groups, traditional peoples and Black women who have historically built resistance in their locations and have much to contribute to the implementation and improvement of the current structure. An example of this is the Black Women\u2019s March<\/a>, a social and political movement that fights racism and violence, and strives for the well-being of Black women in Brazil.<\/p>\n

We hope that COP30 represents more than just a transition agenda\u2014that it becomes a milestone of historical reparations and a commitment to a new model of climate governance, grounded in equity and dignity. This requires, among other things, strengthening the production of disaggregated data by race, gender, location, and social class, and ensuring the true inclusion of these populations in decision-making, with real, and not merely symbolic, power.<\/p>\n

We have the opportunity not to repeat the mistakes of previous COPs<\/a>, to stand firm and say that Afro-descendant women will no longer be made invisible.<\/p>\n

The climate justice that we defend is intersectional, feminist, anti-racist and grassroots. And we hope that Bel\u00e9m, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon<\/a>, will be the starting point for this new global pact\u2014a pact that recognizes that impacts are unequal and, therefore, solutions must also be distributed fairly and equitably.<\/p>\n

About the Authors: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mariana de Paula<\/a> is co-founder and Executive Director of the Decodifica Institute<\/a> (formerly LabJaca), an organization dedicated to data-driven production, communication, and advocacy, focusing on the realities and needs of peripheral communities.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Mariana Galdino<\/a> is co-founder and Advocacy Analyst at the Decodifica Institute<\/a>, studying law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), and specializing in Project Management at the Get\u00falio Vargas Foundation (FGV).<\/em>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

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Support\u00a0<\/b>RioOnWatch<\/i><\/b>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0<\/b>by clicking here.<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas For the original article by Mariana Galdino and Mariana de Paula published in Nexo Jornal, click here.\u00a0 In Brazil\u2014as around the world, but especially in the Global South\u2014it is impossible to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":81454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1328,1290,3477,2242,1331,335,3527,452,1330],"tags":[472,3540,2436,436,2826,182,2739,203,1781,124,3393,3435,2631,2455,2076],"writer":[3807,3806],"translator":[3795],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-by-community-contributors","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-climate-justice","11":"category-democracy","12":"category-opinion-2","13":"category-policies","14":"category-representation","15":"category-rio20","16":"category-translation","17":"tag-climate-change","18":"tag-cop","19":"tag-environmental-justice","20":"tag-gender","21":"tag-government-incompetence","22":"tag-government-neglect","23":"tag-ibge","24":"tag-inequality","25":"tag-opinion-2","26":"tag-race","27":"tag-representation","28":"tag-structural-racism","29":"tag-systematic-maintenance-of-oppression","30":"tag-transgender","31":"tag-violence-against-women","32":"writer-mariana-de-paula","33":"writer-mariana-galdino","34":"translator-marina-devine-guzman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81449"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81536,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81449\/revisions\/81536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81449"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=81449"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=81449"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=81449"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=81449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}