- Over 10,000 participants join COP30 side event online from around the world to demand urgent, integrated action that tackles climate, biodiversity and land challenges together
- GLF Climate 2025 showcases how Indigenous Peoples, local communities, youth and Global South leaders are leading real climate action by restoring forests, revitalizing rangelands and transforming food systems.
Belém, Brazil (18 November 2025) – At the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) highlighted how Indigenous Peoples, local communities, youth and Global South leaders are driving climate, biodiversity and land solutions. Over 10,100 participants attended GLF Climate 2025: A New Vision for Earth online from 178 countries, joining hundreds more at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
“Enough with the talk – now we need action, implementation and adaptation” was the message from communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. From the ground across the globe, these stewards are calling for urgent, concrete steps to protect landscapes, livelihoods and the climate.
Participants emphasized that climate, biodiversity and land challenges must be addressed together to safeguard ecosystems while strengthening resilience. This means bringing together agroecology, circular bioeconomies, climate-resilient farming, community-led adaptation practices and other innovative solutions.
Voices at GLF Climate 2025
“I think we are much more attracted to bad news than to good news. If we look carefully, there are going to be a lot of good solutions coming up. Maybe not perfect, but we can fix them, we can improve them and it will be a new start.” – Marielos Peña Claros, Co-chair of the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA) and Professor of Ecology of Tropical Managed Rainforests at Wageningen University.
“Young people in our program feel really distant from [climate negotiations] processes because their voices don’t get heard. They don’t know what the Convention on Biological Diversity or COP30 are, or why they’re important. But they are the people leading restoration initiatives, agroecology initiatives, pollinator conservation and community-based research. So, we need to integrate local action into these political strategies and the Rio Conventions and institutionalize youth participation beyond symbolic inclusions.” – Ysabel Calderón, Founder of Sumak Kawsay and 2023 GLF Mountain Restoration Steward.
“We’ve seen a lot of calls at this COP on trying to better align the three [Rio Conventions] agenda under a common framework. But how do we achieve that in practice? That’s where I think the landscape approach has the solution for us. It’s looking at the scale of the territory, at the whole area of management, beyond the individual site, forests and rivers, and instead looking at the mosaic of land use and users that are all interacting with each other.” – Alain du Cap, Senior Policy Advisor, Environment and Climate Partnerships, Global Affairs Canada.
“To get to those big solutions, whether they’re scientific, legal or multilateral, I think we need to really ask: do we have a global stocktake of where we are in terms of climate negotiations? I don’t think we are doing a good global stocktake of all the people working on climate change, but in different ways. And for some reason, the issue keeps getting worse. We need a stocktake of what solutions are succeeding and what aren’t.” – Ayisha Siddiqa, Founder and Executive Director, Future Generations Tribunal
“The Global Landscapes Forum has stood alongside the Climate COP since 2013 in Warsaw. But this COP, here in Belém, feels different. A COP shaped not only by negotiations but by the voices of the Amazon, of Latin America, and of communities across the Global South who are leading action, not waiting for it. And once again, it is clear: we cannot solve climate, biodiversity and land degradation in silos. They are deeply interconnected just as Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists and local communities have reminded us for generations.” – Kamal Prawiranegara, Director, Global Landscapes Forum.
Bringing COP30 to the world At 10 GLF Climate 2025 watch parties, led by GLFx chapters from the island of Sumatra to the Himalayas, Lake Victoria and the Andes, participants followed the GLF Climate discussions online and organized their own side activities, including storytelling sessions, children’s workshops, tree planting, bird watching and more.
Meanwhile, 160 people gathered at a satellite event led by the GLF in Lima, Peru, streaming the event and developing their own sessions and discussions, including a cultural and networking evening.
Register for free and re-watch GLF Climate on demand here.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
- Find photos from GLF Climate 2025 on our Flickr
- Explore more press materials about the GLF at COP30 in our Media Room
- For more information, schedule interviews or obtain expert commentaries, contact Kelly Quintero (k.quintero@cifor-icraf.org)
ABOUT THE GLF
The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, connecting people with a shared vision to create productive, profitable, equitable and resilient landscapes. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP and the World Bank, and its charter members. Learn more at www.globallandscapesforum.org.
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