Arriving in Belém, Brazil for COP30, I find myself immersed in the vibrant heart of the Amazon at a moment when the world’s attention is fixed on the future of our planet. I am here as part of an eight-person delegation from Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, the official international development arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, accompanying partners and communities from across the Global South whose voices urgently need to be heard. Together, we are witnessing not only the negotiations inside COP, but also the lived realities outside its walls—realities that shape, challenge, and inspire our commitment to climate justice.

Why COP30 Matters More Than Ever

This year’s COP is unlike any before it. For the first time, the world’s leaders have gathered in the Amazon itself—home to more biodiversity than anywhere on the planet and the site of some of the most acute climate pressures. Rising global temperatures, disappearing forests, and increasingly extreme weather events have made this moment critical.

It is in this context that the bishops of the Global South have brought forward their powerful document for COP30, “A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home”. Rooted in the lived experience of communities most affected by climate disruption, the document is both a moral appeal and a practical roadmap. It calls for a renewed coalition between the Global North and the Global South—a partnership grounded not in charity or paternalism, but in shared responsibility, reciprocity, and justice. Their message Is clear: no region can solve the climate crisis alone. The future of the planet depends on collaboration across borders, histories, and economic divides.

Our Delegation: Walking in Solidarity

Development and Peace – Caritas Canada came to COP30 with a simple mission: to listen, accompany, and amplify the voices of our partners. Our delegation includes Directors, Bishops, National Council Members, a Union Representative, and a Programs Officer whose work spans a continent of cultures, unified by a commitment to climate justice and human dignity.

The themes highlighted in “A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home” resonate deeply with our work. The bishops insist that the Global South cannot continue absorbing the consequences of emissions and development patterns largely driven by the Global North. Instead, they call for a new alliance—one where technology, financing, and political will flow in ways that respect sovereignty, elevate local wisdom, and safeguard human dignity.

For decades, Development and Peace has walked alongside communities who are living this reality. Being here in Belém allows us to strengthen this emerging coalition, ensuring that the voices shaping the solutions include those most affected by the crisis.

Inside the Negotiations: Promises, Tensions and Recommitments

Inside the official COP sessions, urgency mixes with competing national interests. Much of the debate revolves around major themes such as:

Loss and Damage – ensuring vulnerable nations receive real, accessible funding to rebuild after climate disasters.

Climate Finance – moving from promises to predictable, transparent commitments.

Amazon Protection – safeguarding the world’s most vital ecosystem and the communities within it.

Recommitment to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – urging countries to raise ambition, lower emissions, and strengthen implementation plans to keep the world within a livable temperature threshold.

What the bishop’s document adds to these debates is clarity: the climate crisis is not just technical—it is relational. It requires cooperation, humility, and conversion. The bishops’ call for a Global North–Global South coalition challenges wealthier nations to match high ambition with genuine partnership—providing technology, financing, and political support that make strong NDCs achievable, equitable, and accountable.

The Peoples’ Summit: The Human Face of the Amazon

Beyond the negotiation halls, the streets of Belém tell the story the bishops are urging the world to hear. Indigenous and traditional communities—often carrying the legacy of historical exploitation—step forward not as victims, but as leaders and visionaries. The “Peoples’ Summit” along with its marches, workshops, testimonies, and cultural expressions illuminate what climate justice truly means.

Here, the message of “A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home” comes alive: those who know the forest, protect it, and depend on it most intimately must help shape the global path forward. The Amazon is not simply a carbon sink; it is a home, a culture, and a living source of wisdom.

Personal Reflections: What the Amazon Taught Me

Encountering the Amazon while carrying the bishops’ document in mind has deepened its meaning. Their call for a renewed coalition is not theoretical; it reflects the reality I see each day here in Belém. The suffering caused by climate change is real, but so is the courage and ingenuity of the communities responding to it.

Standing along the river, listening to stories of displacement, resilience, and hope, I am reminded that climate change is not only a scientific issue—it is a moral one. It asks something of us. It calls us to conversion, compassion, and commitment.

The Amazon has a way of humbling you. Its beauty is immense; its fragility is sobering. To witness both at once is to understand why the bishops speak not only of crisis, but of responsibility and relationship.

The bishops’ insistence on a new North–South coalition has profound implications for Canada. As a nation with significant economic power and vast natural resources, our choices matter. We also know too well that the climate crisis is real as we face our own climate disasters in floods, fires and displaced communities, particularly in the north. We cannot remain passive. We are called to partnership: to fair financing, responsible consumption, ethical investments, and policies that embody global solidarity.

Within the Church, this means accompanying Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, supporting community-led solutions, and recognizing that our faith compels us into deeper relationship with those living at the margins of the climate crisis.

A Call to Hope and Action

“A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home” ends not with alarm, but with hope rooted in commitment. And the same is true here in Belém. Hope is found in cooperation, courage, and a willingness to walk together—north and south, rich and poor, urban and rural. The climate crisis demands nothing less. As COP30 comes to its conclusion, I am committed to carrying this vision forward and hope that others will hold the same ideal: that a just and sustainable future will only be possible if we build it in partnership, as one human family sharing one increasingly fragile home.