GLOBAL – A peaceful but firm blockade of the main entrance to the COP30 climate summit by dozens of Indigenous Munduruku people in Belém, Brazil, on Friday, 14th November 2025, has cast a spotlight on the global struggle for Indigenous land rights and its centrality to the climate crisis, a fight that resonates deeply with similar battles in Kenya. The protesters, from the Tapajós River basin in the Amazon, demanded a direct audience with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to voice their opposition to illegal mining, agribusiness expansion, and major infrastructure projects threatening their ancestral territories.

The demonstration, which began at dawn, forced delegates into long queues at a side entrance for several hours before the COP30 President, André Corrêa do Lago, met with the group's representatives. While President Lula did not appear, the protesters' core message was delivered: that the world cannot achieve climate justice while sacrificing the lands and rights of its original custodians. “We came here to tell this reality to the world: Our streams have dried up, our rivers have dried up, the fish have become fewer,” said Cleudivaldo Munduruku, a youth leader. Their specific demands include the cancellation of the Ferrogrão railway, a massive agribusiness corridor, and the repeal of a decree designating their rivers as priority cargo routes, which they say turns their lifeblood into a "soy highway".

A Familiar Struggle for Kenyan Communities

The plight of the Munduruku is a powerful echo of the protracted struggles faced by Indigenous communities in Kenya. For decades, the Ogiek people have been subjected to forced evictions from their ancestral home in the Mau Forest, often in the name of conservation. Similarly, the Sengwer community has faced violent displacement and the burning of their homes in the Embobut Forest by government agencies. These actions persist despite a landmark 2017 ruling by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights that affirmed the Ogiek's rights to their ancestral land, a judgment the Kenyan government has been slow to implement.

Just as the Munduruku protest the encroachment of agribusiness and infrastructure, Kenyan communities fight against conservation models that exclude them and the allocation of their lands to powerful political and commercial interests. This shared experience underscores a critical global issue: the failure of governments to recognize that Indigenous peoples are often the most effective guardians of biodiversity. The United Nations has acknowledged that while Indigenous peoples contribute the least to greenhouse emissions, they are among the first to face the direct consequences of climate change and are vital to enhancing the resilience of ecosystems.

Africa's Voice at COP30

The protest in Belém comes as African nations, including Kenya, are pushing for a justice-centered outcome at COP30. Kenya's delegation arrived at the summit advocating for concrete financial commitments to address climate impacts, having submitted an ambitious national climate plan that is 80% conditional on international support. In a pre-summit convening in Nairobi, African civil society organizations demanded direct financing for Indigenous peoples and local communities leading nature-based solutions. Dr. Rosalid Nkirote of the African Coalition of Communities Responsive to Climate Change (ACCRCC) stated at a COP30 side event, “The path to climate justice begins where extractive power ends.”

The Brazilian government has highlighted that this COP, the first held in a democracy in four years, is designed to be inclusive, with over 900 Indigenous participants registered, a significant increase from previous years. However, the heavy security presence and clashes earlier in the week suggest ongoing tensions between official access and authentic representation. Critics also point to the significant presence of fossil fuel lobbyists at the summit, with one analysis finding they make up one in every 25 delegates.

While the Munduruku blockade was a specific event driven by local grievances, it symbolizes a universal demand for the recognition of Indigenous knowledge and land tenure as foundational pillars of effective climate action. For communities in Kenya and across Africa, the outcome of these global negotiations will determine whether climate policies empower them as partners in conservation or continue to marginalize them in the name of progress. The events in Belém serve as a critical reminder that the fight to protect the Amazon is inextricably linked to the fight to protect the Mau and Embobut forests, and that climate justice must also be land justice.