Amsterdam, Netherlands – The latest UNEP Emissions Gap Report has warned that if countries do not commit to rapid action to cut rising climate pollution emissions, the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C will be gone within a few years. 

Tracy Carty, Climate Politics Expert at Greenpeace International, said:  

“For 15 years, the UNEP has been sounding the alarm on the great chasm between political will for climate action and the worsening emissions trajectory fuelling rising temperatures. These reports are an historical litany of negligence from the world’s leaders to tackle the climate crisis with the urgency it demands, but it’s not too late to take corrective action.” 

“The UNEP has repeatedly warned current policies will lead to global heating far exceeding the goals of the Paris Agreement, to the detriment of nature and communities globally.  Are our political leaders reading these reports? On the evidence of their current plans and policies, most seem oblivious to the urgency. 

“We challenge leaders to embark on wholesale change in their 2035 climate plans, to come to COP29 prepared to finance climate action and to make up for lost time. The COP28 decision to transition away from fossil fuels must now lead to plans for ending coal, oil and gas and to cut emissions to put the world back on the trajectory we need. Climate crunch has arrived and the 1.5°C goal is currently on life support.”

The Emissions Gap Report 2024 found that it remains technically possible to get on a 1.5°C pathway, with solar, wind and forests “holding real promise for sweeping and fast emissions cuts”, alongside energy demand reductions. However, a failure to increase ambition in countries’ 2035 climate action plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), would put the world at risk for a temperature increase of 2.6-3.1°C by the end of this century.

The UNEP also called on countries to explain how their 2035 NDCs contribute to tripling renewable capacity deployment and doubling annual energy efficiency rates by 2030, agreed at COP28 last year, and to transitioning away from fossil fuels.

An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Politics Expert at Greenpeace International in Cali for COP16, said:

“What is needed is well beyond reduced deforestation, reforestation and so-called sustainable forest management. What science says is that protecting high-integrity carbon-rich ecosystems like primary forests offers the highest mitigation value in the land sector. Maintaining ecosystem integrity is equally important for climate adaptation. Governments should urgently start implementing the goal that was agreed at COP28 last year: halt deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. 

“At COP16, governments must push a clear call for protecting ecosystem integrity and agree on a mandate for joint work between the UN conventions on climate and biodiversity. That way, governments at COP29 in Baku can respond and set the scene for real progress in time for the ‘climate and nature COP’ in Brazil at COP30. Coordinated, immediate action on both fronts is required to solve the twin biodiversity-climate crisis. 

“Not all forests store carbon the same way. Science indicates primary forests store exponentially more carbon. Protecting these high-integrity ecosystems should be the priority.”

Can sweet potatoes take queer people out of climate change induced poverty and food insecurity? Well, that’s precisely what one grassroots organisation is trying to do in Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe. 

Mother’s Haven is a Zimbabwean network of queer mothers that advocates for the wellbeing of lesbian, bisexual and trans parents, and their children. In Zimbabwe, queer women and trans men experience disproportionate discrimination, stigma and abuse from their communities and intimate partners; their children are subsequently subjected to similar harassment.  

The group hosts a variety of leadership, sensitisation and wellbeing workshops to tackle these; but as the climate crisis worsens, so does hostility toward individuals across the continent, many of whom are denied access to climate impact relief efforts.  

Studies suggest climate change, driven primarily by emissions from fossil fuel corporations as well as industrial agriculture, is making Zimbabweans poorer. The southern African country is currently facing its worst drought in living memory. In Mudzi, it has destroyed 90% of the crops and put pressure on water supplies, leaving people with very little food.

In an effort to curb their vulnerability to climate impacts such as food insecurity, Mother’s Haven is helping queer women and trans men adapt to the economic impact of climate change – by teaching them to grow sweet potatoes, sugar beans and tomatoes.

Manipulating religion deepens vulnerability to climate change 

Queer activists say stigma and discrimination prevent people in the country from accessing the financial assistance they need to adapt to the impacts of climate change. 

“They will say we are demonically possessed and we are causing these droughts and other disasters. They will say we are the agents who caused those things to happen,” Takudzwa Saruwaka, a rural transgender woman from Chitakatira village in Mutare, close to the Mozambique border.

Members of the community in Africa are an easy scapegoats for the increased frequency and severity of climate impacts across the continent. Heavily funded Western right-wing agenda and religious dogma have steered blame away from the greedy colonial corporations that are actually responsible for accelerating climate change. 

Safe space to survive drought 

By creating a safe space and giving them a piece of land, teaching them to grow sweet potatoes, sugar, beans and tomatoes, Mother’s Haven hopes to achieve much more than empowering queer people economically. 

“It’s not just about income generating, but we’ve realised [it helps with] mental wellness and mental health. When it comes to individuals, they’ve got something to look forward to, and this also brings conversation around the space with families,” said Mother’s Haven Director and Founder, Tsitsi Chiwa.

This mission to inspire hope through action in some of the most vulnerable Zimbabweans comes as a new report from the World Meteorological Organization found that the African continent bears an increasingly heavy burden from climate change and disproportionately high costs for essential climate adaptation. It estimated that up to 118 million extremely poor people across the continent will experience extreme weather by 2030.

While we strive globally to hold polluting corporations to account and halt their climate and nature destruction, Mother’s Haven is a window to the kind of local community action and inclusive mutual aid that’s needed now more than ever.

Sawré Muybu is an Indigenous Land located in the Tapajós River Basin, in the state of Pará, Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Covering 178,173 hectares — an area almost the size of 250,000 soccer fields — the territory is rich in fauna and flora, and home to the Munduruku People. Protecting it means ensuring the continuity of an ancestral, spiritual and cultural way of life that has always been in harmony with the forest.

The Munduruku People have been fighting for the rights to a land that has always belonged to them but is threatened by mining, illegal logging, and infrastructure projects. Now, it’s time to celebrate a historic and profoundly symbolic victory not only for the Munduruku, but for all Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and Brazil. On September 25, 2024, the Sawré Muybu territory was officially demarcated. 

A long process

The demarcation process for Sawré Muybu began in 2007. However, it was stalled for a long time due to political issues and mainly due to the economic influence of mining in the region.

In 2014, the Munduruku people self-demarcated their territory, placing signs at the borders of the Indigenous Land, and pushing invaders out. This act had significant political implications and became a reference for Indigenous movements, inspiring various Indigenous Peoples across Brazil to do the same in their territories — a powerful, brave, and inspiring gesture of autonomy and independence.

10 years later, the demarcation process has finally been signed into decree by the Brazilian Minister of Justice. However, this does not mean that the demarcation process is complete. Now, the Brazilian government needs to mark the physical boundaries and remove the illegal occupants within the territory. After that, the Brazilian President will ratify the territory, completing the process.

But even at this stage, the recognition of the Sawré Muybu Land right can have significant repercussions for large-scale projects in the area, such a Ferrogrão, a railway project that would cut through the Sawré Muybu Land, and the São Luiz do Tapajós hydro dam. The dam project was shelved by the Brazilian environmental agency Ibama in 2016, but recent studies by Brazilian power company Eletrobrás this year shows that the struggle is not over. The recognition of the Sawré Muybu Land represents a major obstacle to any project that ignores the rights and self-determination of Indigenous Peoples.

People Power

The signing of the decree is an achievement, but it was only possible thanks to the strength, wisdom, and persistence of the Munduruku People, who never gave up fighting for what is rightfully theirs. Over 17 years, efforts by the Munduruku People ranged from international pressure to collaborations with Brazilian authorities and environmental and human rights organizations. 

A partnership between Greenpeace Brazil and the Munduruku People has been established since the Munduruku opened their villages to Greenpeace in 2013. The decision to support the Munduruku resistance against the São Luiz do Tapajós dam was not only due to the environmental impact, but also out of an ethical commitment to the autonomy and self-determination of the Forest Peoples. The struggle for the forest and the rights of Indigenous Peoples is the same. After over 4,000 days of resistance, now is a moment of celebration and recognition of the collective strength of all of those who have been supporting this cause.

But Munduruku’s struggle is not over. In a statement on social media, Indigenous leader Alessandra Munduruku — the winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize Award in 2023 — celebrated the signing of the decree but reminded everyone that her people still face many challenges:

“It was a tough fight — self-demarcations, pressure on the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), the Ministry of Justice. We organized movements to show that the territory is ours. A previous government wanted to build a hydroelectric dam in our Land, but we stood firm and said it was ours and the dam would not happen. We carried out self-demarcations and discussed consultation protocols. There were many police and researchers in our area studying the hydro dam project, but we stopped them. I am grateful to those who believed in our people’s struggle and our shamans’ power, who always told us to listen to the forest and our ancestors. Congratulations to all of us. But the struggle is not over — we are still suffering today, with droughts and fires, and our wells drying up.”

Greenpeace continues to learn from Indigenous Peoples that the struggle for the forest is multidimensional. It is a battle against deforestation, land grabbing, and illegal mining, but also a fight for human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty. The demarcation of Sawré Muybu is a victory that transcends borders. It reinforces the idea that we can protect the Amazon with persistence and solidarity. More than ever, we have reason to celebrate and continue the fight. Sawé!

Jorge Oliveira is a Comms Coordinator for the Indigenous Peoples Front at Greenpeace Brazil

All around the world, the voices and languages are many, but the message is the same. Greenpeace activists from more than 15 countries and allies across the environmental movement are taking action in solidarity against the abusive legal tactics of US-based fossil fuel company Energy Transfer (ET). 

From Dallas and Paris to São Paolo and Bangkok, these global expressions of solidarity took place as Greenpeace International (GPI) and the Greenpeace entities in the US are facing a meritless US$ 300 million lawsuit from ET related to the Indigenous-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. This lawsuit is an egregious example of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), a key tool used by corporate power to suppress free speech and people power. Not only does this SLAPP attempt to rewrite the history of this movement led by the Standing Rock Sioux, but a loss at trial could prove destructive to Greenpeace in the US and have widespread impacts for the climate justice movement all around the world.

The week of action included Greenpeace Poland climbers and Greenpeace Nordic activists and crew aboard Greenpeace ship Witness as well as images of #WeWillNotBeSilenced banners posted to social media throughout September and October. 

‘It’s a threat to silencing all of us’

With the widespread threat to peaceful protest posed by this dangerous legal tactic clear, movement leaders and legal experts gathered together at a GPI-hosted event during Climate Week NYC on 24 September titled “An attack on one is an attack on all: How collectively responding to the threat of SLAPP suits is necessary for climate action”. The panel included Greenpeace USA Campaigns Director Rolf Skar, Greenpeace International Executive Director Mads Christensen, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous, EarthRights International Executive Director Bobbie Sta. Maria, Systemic Justice founder Nani Jansen Reventlow, and Shayana Kadidal, a Senior Managing Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. This dynamic discussion explored the way more and more corporations are using dirty legal tricks like SLAPP suits to intimidate and silence their critics. 

“To go after an organisation as iconic as Greenpeace is really a threat to all of us,” Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said during the panel discussion. “Increasingly we’re seeing wealthy special interests use litigation in a way that can only have the impact of silencing us, intimidating us, stifling dissent, stifling democracy. Our organisations are key watchdogs. You silence Greenpeace, it’s a threat to silencing all of us, to silencing our movement.”

‘We will not be bullied’

Leading up to the week of action, more than 290 organisations, tens of thousands of individuals, and a growing list of public figures signed an open letter to Energy Transfer expressing solidarity with Greenpeace against their meritless US$ 300 million lawsuit: 

We will not allow lawsuits like this one to stop us from advocating for a just, green and peaceful future. On the contrary, we will ensure they have the opposite effect, increasing the support for organisations like Greenpeace and strengthening the broader movement for justice.

This legal attack on Greenpeace is an attack on us all. We will not stand idly by. We will not be bullied. We will not be divided and we will not be silenced.

If enough of us speak out, we can stop Energy Transfer’s abusive lawsuit, protect Greenpeace, and defend free speech.