In 2025, Belém do Pará will be the center of global attention when it hosts COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. But beyond the official debates and diplomatic negotiations of the Blue Zones and the movements of NGOs, activists and researchers in the Green Zones, a powerful and unprecedented movement is spreading around the edges of the city: the Yellow Zones, living territories of resistance, culture and climate action, idealized by the COP Coalition of the Baixadas.
This collective, made up of 15 organizations from the outskirts of Belém and Castanhal, has a clear objective: to decentralize the climate debate and leave a lasting legacy in Amazonian communities. The Yellow Zones represent a new way of doing COP: with feet on the ground, ears attentive to the voices of the “quebradas” and hands working for real solutions.
Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @copdasbaixadas
To deepen the conversation about the Yellow Zones and the role of Amazonian peripheral youth in building alternatives to the traditional COP model, we brought in two key representatives of this movement: Jean Ferreira, from Gueto Hub, one of the collectives that helped create the COP in the Baixadas, and Suane Melo, from Barca Literária, who is active in organizing the Yellow Zones in Belém.
They share their trajectories, challenges and hopes, bringing a direct perspective from the Amazonian peripheries on what is at stake at COP30 and in the fight for climate and social justice.
Check it out below!
Raízes DS: How do you see the opportunity (or risk) of COP30 taking place in Belém for the peripheral and traditional communities of the Amazon?
Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @suanebarreirinhas
Suane: COP30 can be a great opportunity to debate the climate agenda from our point of view, but only if we really participate, which is not happening. Today, COP30 is a risk for peripheral and traditional communities, because it’s becoming a moment to build big projects without really debating the climate agenda. This will leave a bad legacy for everyone. Some communities, like Vila da Barca, will be impacted more quickly, because of the Liberdade highway, for example. The Doca project doesn’t solve the city’s real problems, and I don’t agree with that.
R: What are the main challenges faced by the Amazonian peripheries in participating in global climate debates? And how have you faced these challenges?
S: One of the biggest challenges is the lack of spaces to debate these issues. The government treats the COP as a window to make money and not to listen to people. The issues that are part of the climate crisis – sanitation, water shortages, flooding – are not put to the community for real debate. In response, we created the Yellow Zones, which are organized spaces for communities to discuss the climate and welcome visitors during the COP. These spaces are safe and accessible, and we want to expand this to other regions, taking the proposal to other COPs. We also hold community events, such as a food festival with women from Vila da Barca, to strengthen these territories.
R: What do you hope the decision-makers at COP30 will learn from the experiences and practices of the Yellow Zones?
S: It is possible to debate climate in an organized, accessible and community-based way, not just in technical or academic terms. That the peripheries have their own fundamental vision of climate justice. And that the climate agenda is also an agenda for the life, culture and rights of people living at the bottom of society.
Raízes DS: How did the COP of the Baixadas come about and what is the importance of a peripheral and Amazonian movement leading actions in parallel to COP30?
Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @jeandogueto
Jean: The COP of the Baixadas came about in 2022 with the organization I’m part of, the Ghetto Hub. At the time, there was no such thing as climate literacy, so we started to build this within our trajectory, showing that everyone can learn about these issues. We didn’t know anything about climate, but we learned that many terms and concepts used in official discussions are complex and not very accessible to the peripheries. We created a project called Mó Climão to invite activists who taught and to learn together. The name “COP das Baixadas” comes from the way we call our peripheries here in Belém, with the intention of creating a local, peripheral movement that had a voice and a leading role in the climate agenda, something that the official COP doesn’t always offer. The idea was to bring together peripheral organizations to debate, even if in a critical way, since we felt that the official COP excluded many people from the grassroots.
R: What role do Amazonian peripheral youth play in building the Yellow Zones and in the wider climate debate?
J: It’s the peripheral youth who give you the courage to do what seems difficult. They have a mixture of courage and even a certain healthy “immaturity” in thinking that things are possible, even without experience. COP das Baixadas was created by young people, many of them leaders of organizations. The idea behind Yellow Zones is similar: it’s a message that we don’t agree with the traditional COP formats and we want to build something new, that includes the peripheral population, that takes into account the local reality. Our message is clear: the COP is not about Brazil, nor is it about Belém, so why hold the event here and not consider the surroundings and the people who live here?
A: What would you like global leaders and negotiators to hear and understand about the voices coming from the Yellow Zones and the youth of the Amazonian periphery?
J: They need to understand that there are two different places: ambitious agreements and practical climate action. Global agreements are important, but they will only save a sliver of humanity – the richest who will be able to protect themselves from catastrophes. Meanwhile, the rest of the population, especially in the peripheries, is suffering the impacts now. Focusing only on agreements means accepting a silent genocide. What is needed is concrete commitment to practical action that will help the lives of those already affected. Also, the action needs to be legal and binding, and not just an agreement based on trust and good image, because that’s not working.
R: How do you see the relationship between climate justice and social justice in the context of the urban and peripheral Amazon?
S: Climate justice only exists if there is environmental justice, which recognizes that not everyone is affected in the same way. Everyone should have an equal right to environmental benefits. Climate justice includes the role of rich countries, which pollute more, in taking on more responsibility. In Belém, unfortunately, there is no climate or social justice. The Vila da Barca community, for example, receives sewage and mud from the Doca works – this is a blatant environmental and social injustice. The COP has only accelerated these inequalities, not resolved them.
J: Climate justice is actually social justice itself, so that we can resist disasters. If a territory loses access to a river, for example, it loses food sovereignty. If people don’t have jobs and access to the environment, they’re practically sentenced. Creating less vulnerable territories means increasing their chances of survival. In addition, justice also involves preserving memory, culture and living spaces, which are essential for resistance and rebuilding after a crisis. Losing cultural practices or community spaces is an irreparable loss for these communities.
Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @copdasbaixadas
The Yellow Zones are much more than spaces parallel to COP30. They are the beating heart of a peripheral Amazonian resistance that demands to be heard and respected. They are territories where climate justice is intertwined with social justice, where culture, memory and local knowledge come together to build real paths forward in the face of the global crisis. The COP Coalition of the Baixadas, with its young and peripheral protagonism, shows us that another way of doing environmental politics is possible, urgent and necessary.
While the official COP takes place in the spotlight, the Yellow Zones reaffirm that the future of the planet is also decided in the peripheries, with the voices of those who suffer the most and who, with courage, reinvent care for the Earth – starting with their own home.
You can register on the official Yellow Zoneswebsite, take part in the virtual forum and follow all the news. Here, we’ve already signed up. Have you?
