Photos from the event are available here.
Belém, Brazil – On Wednesday, Belém, the host city for COP30 in November, hosted Global Citizen NOW: Amazon – an international event uniting activists, government officials, and Indigenous leaders to discuss just and sustainable climate solutions. The gathering also became a powerful forum for resistance to Bill 2.159/2021, recently passed by Brazil’s Congress. The bill dismantles Brazil’s environmental licensing system and threatens the rights of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
Panelists denounced the bill’s risks and directly urged President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to veto it entirely.
“I need to send a clear message to our president: veto it all! Brazil cannot host the world’s most important climate conference while dismantling its own environmental policy. The world is concerned about the future of humanity and the planet, but here at home we see Congress approving a bill that violates rights, weakens licensing, and further worsens the environmental crisis,” said Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinator of the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB).
Government officials echoed those concerns.
Rodrigo Agostinho, president of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental enforcement agency, warned: “Brazil has always been a global environmental leader. Failing to stop this massive rollback is unacceptable. This bill is, in fact, a law of no licensing. If passed, 90% of everything currently licensed in Brazil would no longer require any license.”
Bill 2.159/2021 enables “self-licensing,” exempts projects from assessing indirect and cumulative impacts, and allows large-scale infrastructure to proceed in sensitive areas without proper consultation of affected communities.
According to Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of MapBiomas, the bill introduces a systemic risk: “It’s as if we accepted that some planes crash just because most of them land safely. But what’s at stake here is the health and safety of all of us. This is a law that benefits a few while putting the majority at risk.”
Global Citizen NOW: Amazon event
With a focus on climate finance and strengthening the bioeconomy, Global Citizen NOW: Amazon took place less than four months ahead of COP30, drawing global attention to the threats facing the world’s largest tropical rainforest. The event, held at Estação das Docas in Belém, was organized by the international advocacy group Global Citizen.
Speakers included Pará State Governor Helder Barbalho and Indigenous leaders Puyr Tembé, Juma Xipaia, Toya Manchineri, Leo Cerda, and Helena Gualinga, among others, who reaffirmed the central role of forest peoples in protecting the Amazon biome.
Growing international opposition
Amazon Watch believes that only a full presidential veto of Bill 2.159/2021 can protect the Amazon and the peoples. The organization calls on civil society to join this urgent fight and pressure Brazil’s president to act. Thousands of the group’s international supporters have already sent emails to President Lula supporting the call for a full veto.
“The so-called Devastation Bill is a clear signal that Brazil’s Congress prioritizes profits for export agribusiness and transnational corporations over the rights and well-being of its own people. While the elite pave the way for destructive mega-projects like Ferrogrão, ordinary Brazilians face soaring food prices and toxic exposure. Approving this bill would plunge the planet deeper into climate crisis. President Lula must veto it entirely – as an urgent act of leadership, of climate responsibility, and of defense for life and national sovereignty,” concluded Pedro Charbel, Amazon Watch Brazil Campaigner.
