The Primate of Brazil and Bishop of the Amazon, the Most Revd Marinez Bassotto, is in the United Kingdom this week (20-24 October), advocating for environmental justice and the importance of indigenous voices being central to this November’s COP30 (Conference of the Parties).
The week began with an ecumenical press conference on 20 October, facilitated by Christian Aid at which faith leaders shared climate-related challenges in their settings and described what they plan to achieve at COP30.
Archbishop Marinez is also due to address an All-Party Parliamentary Group on the UN Global Goals, meet with the Rt Revd Graham Usher (Bishop of Norwich and Lead Bishop for the Environment) at ‘Peers for the Planet’, and contribute to a round table discussion about climate justice at Lambeth Palace with UK church leaders and activists.
The meetings are all part of Archbishop Marinez’s preparations for COP30, which will take place in Belém in the Brazilian Amazon from 10-21 November. Archbishop Marinez is due to attend parts of the COP30 discussions to advocate for climate justice. She will also play a major role in the COP30 People’s Summit, hosting a ‘Tapiri’ at the Catedral Anglicana de Santa Maria, with other ecumenical and inter faith leaders.
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‘The People’s Summit’ (also known as the Cúpula dos Povos) is a parallel event to the official UN climate summit (COP30) which serves as a platform for civil society, social movements, and marginalized communities to voice their concerns and demands for climate justice. Speaking of the Tapiri, Archbishop Marinez said: ‘It will be a joy to welcome people to Belem’ and shared her hope to make it ‘a space to search for justice and also a space of solidarity and love. We are called to be the seeds of a new time in a new world.’
COP30 has been described by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the ‘People’s COP’ and Archbishop Marinez is adamant that the voices of the indigenous peoples, (including the riverine, quilombola and traditional communities), must be heard. She said: ‘I hope that their participation will be central and impactful. Their voices need to be at the centre of discussions, because they are the ones who hold the ancestral and practical knowledge necessary for preservation. Climate justice will only be achieved when the territorial and cultural rights of these communities are fully recognised and respected. We want their voices to influence the negotiations, because their influence is the key to ensuring that the commitments made at the Summit are translated into concrete, effective and fair action.’
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Archbishop Marinez is a committed advocate for environmental justice, in a nation where mass deforestation continues to cause harm. In the Amazon, 68.9 million hectares of forest cover has been lost between 2001 and 2023. This threatens biodiversity, displaces indigenous peoples, and accelerates climate change.
The Archbishop consistently calls for churches to take environmental action seriously. In a recent interview she said: ‘Churches can promote meaningful dialogues and actions, carrying out advocacy, demanding that governments and companies fulfil their commitments to reducing the carbon footprint, reducing deforestation and degradation, building a just energy transition, fighting to guarantee the territorial and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, encouraging public policies that support the development of clean technologies, supporting sustainable economic models, calling their members and all of society to live the gospel through the protection of socio-environmental justice.’
Lungs of the Earth – a call to environmental action and advocacy
In the lead-up to COP30, the Anglican Communion Office has been sharing an environmental call to restore the ‘Lungs of the Earth’. Part of this initiative is to amplify how Anglicans are going about restoring and protecting three vital ecosystems: forests, oceans and frozen landscapes.
To follow the activities of the Anglican delegation at COP30 and ecumenical events celebrating a shared Christian commitment to climate justice, ensure you are following the Anglican Communion social channels: Facebook, Instagram and X.
Or to find out how Anglican provinces and churches can get involved, visit www.anglicancommunion.org/lungsoftheearth.
