Photos show Indigenous participants at the People’s Summit held alongside the COP30 climate meeting

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — While delegates at a U.N. conference discussed how to fulfill past promises on fighting climate change, a boisterous gathering focused on the same topic from a very different perspective was taking shape.

Scores of Indigenous people danced, sang and enjoyed each other’s company in Belem, Brazil, the city on the edge of the Amazon that is hosting this year’s conference, known as COP30.

The parallel event, called the People’s Summit, was inaugurated Wednesday at the Federal University of Para, which was hosting.

The opening included small protests, singing and dancing, as well as speeches led by Indigenous communities from across the Amazon.

“Here we are heard, here our voices are listened to,” said Inés Antonia Santos Ribeiro, a professor at the university.

Indigenous peoples are some of the most impacted by climate change, as many live close to nature, areas that are experiencing degradation as rising temperatures lead to extreme drought, floods and desertification.

At the same time, Indigenous peoples have maintained and protected lands for millennia, making their environmental stewardship important in the fight against climate change.

This year’s climate conference is the first being held in the Amazon rainforest, a symbolic pick by host country Brazil in part to ensure that Indigenous peoples have a large presence.

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