As United Nation climate talks get underway in Belem, a different kind of conference is kicking off: the People’s Summit, a gathering of activists, organizers, environmentalists and Indigenous groups from around the world. On a flotilla of boats or in canoes, they celebrated the joy of coming together in community as they paddled or cruised at the gateway to the Amazon.

“The people” present at COP30, as the conference is informally called, bring with them a diverse constellation of desires and hopes for the outcome of the negotiations. This year is different than in past years, because leaders aren't expected to sign one big agreement at the end of it; instead, it will be about getting into some of the specifics of how they're going to take action about climate change. 

But many of the people represented by those governments are asking for the same thing. They want nations to center the needs of historically marginalized communities who bear the brunt of the climate crisis and have the least resources adapt. They want them to better include those communities in leadership and decision-making. And they want to see devoted resources and political will toward stopping the greenhouse gas emissions, resource extraction and other practices driving the problem in the first place.

Their “family building,” as one participant called the canoe paddle, surmounted an undercurrent of tension after protesters broke through security barricades at the main conference venue the night before. Many emphasized the importance of making the voice of the people heard after years of these talks being held in countries where civil society is not free to demonstrate.

Whaia, a member of the A Wisdom Keepers delegation and a Ngāti Kahungunu woman of Aotearoa, what Māori call New Zealand, paddled one of the canoes with her daughter, Moana.

During the canoe paddle participants sometimes stopped to sing songs, greet others or swim in the river.

AP Video by Joshua A. Bickel, Teresa de Miguel, and Andre Penner

Produced by Julián Trejo Bax