‘This People’s March for Climate is For My Son’s Future’

By Tanka Dhakal
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 15 2025 – In the scorching heat and humidity, Canru Pataxo marched with his one-year-old son firmly held in his arms.

Pataxo was one of the thousands of Indigenous people and activists who protested in Belém on Saturday to express their anger and pressure world leaders. He attended the protest in the host city of the UN Climate Conference with his son, as it was his child’s future that he was fighting for.

“The importance of having my son here is to show him that I need to protect the future,” he said while trying to protect his son’s face from the sun. “He is my future; he is the future of my people.”

Pataxo is indigenous to the world’s biggest carbon-capturing forest, the Amazon. While world leaders and negotiators decide the future of climate action from COP30 negotiation rooms, people on the front line of climate change impacts and activists marched to pressure negotiators to act now.

“I believe that much more still needs to be done. The conference is not yet enough to guarantee my son’s future,” Pataxo said. “His future still depends on what countries do for our environment.”

The climate negotiations are heading toward their final week. Indigenous communities and climate activists demand climate justice for people, not for corporations. After COP26 in Glasgow, the host city also saw the largest march by the people. Armed with placards and symbols of a burning Earth, they denounced  fossil fuel industries, government inaction, and corporate lobbying.

“I think that’s what’s exciting about this COP, that civil disobedience is allowed,” said Timi Moloto, a climate activist from South Africa. “It’s vital that we don’t put limits on how Indigenous people achieve our liberation.”

In a recent Emissions Gap Report, the UN Environment Program warned that the world is on track to exceed the 1.5°C temperature mark within the next decade and called for urgent action.

Indigenous people in traditional attire at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

Thousands of people marched at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil, demanding climate action. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

Protesters at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil, in symbolic costumes depicting pollution caused by fossil fuel. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

A young activist chanting at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

An Indigenous participant with elaborate feather headdresses at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

People walked several kilometers during the People’s March for Climate, held in the COP30 host city Belém, Brazil, without thinking about the heat. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

Fossil fuel phaseout is one of the major demands by the activist community at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil, but at the COP more than 1600 fossil fuel lobbyists are participating. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

A group of Indigenous people at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

A protester wearing a mask at the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

This photo essay is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

Excerpt:

Thousands, including a young father and his toddler, took to the streets for the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. The march represents a halfway mark in the climate negotiations.