WAT-GP participation at COP30 in Belém 🇧🇷

Written by Johan de Vries – Advocacy Coordinator

At COP30 in Belém, members of the We Are Tomorrow Global Partnership were present with a clear purpose: to represent youth voices, create opportunities for 10 youth delegates that joined us through side events and bilaterals, showcase WAT-GP projects, closely follow the negotiations, and advocate for our shared priorities on Adaptation, Nature-based Solutions, and climate justice in general. Youth delegates from our partnering organisations from Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal, Moldova, Georgia, Sweden, South-Korea and Zimbabwe joined us in Belém to advocate for our shared Agenda!

Inside the negotiation rooms, especially while following adaptation and finance discussions such as the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Adaptation Fund (AF), we witnessed a familiar pattern of climate diplomacy: slow progress, political tension, and a visible disconnect between negotiated text and real-world urgency, demonstrating again that consensus often kills ambition. While there was some movement on key agenda items, the overall outcome left many feeling disappointed, as the lives, livelihoods, and futures of millions with urgent adaptation needs often felt sidelined.

Yet, beyond the plenaries, the real progress was visible elsewhere. Youth, Indigenous communities, civil society actors, and local leaders brought moral courage, strong proposals, and an unwavering sense of determination and vision for the future. So many great initiatives have been proposed and we know exactly what should be done. Encouragingly, some decision-makers showed genuine openness to listening to and engaging with youth perspectives that were presented to them.

For many, COP30 was a moment of stepping into spaces that once existed only in books and policy texts, and we left with a renewed sense of belonging and purpose. The experience reinforced a shared understanding: while frustration remains, so does hope. Hope for a future where rich countries and big polluters take their responsibility and pay up for the crisis they have caused, which should be done through providing the required debt-free climate finance for mitigation and adaptation measures in Global South countries. There is simply no just transition without recognition of the ecological and social debt owed by countries in the Global North, based on their historical emissions and ongoing colonial/imperial power structures. 

Supporting and working alongside youth leaders from across the globe reaffirmed where real moral leadership comes from, and that change is already underway! 

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