“The Amazon, for many centuries, was just another chapter in history books, and now we are showing the world [not only] our challenges, but also our solutions, and how much the solutions lie in the forests, coming from the people of the forest.” These were the words spoken by Igor Normando, Mayor of Belém, during the LGMA Constituency intervention at COP30 High-Level Segment on 18 November 2025.
Since Brazil announced Belém as the host city for COP30 in 2023, the choice has been both strategic and symbolic: Placing the Amazon rainforest at the center of global climate negotiations and bringing world leaders into the heart of the region to experience it firsthand. Dubbed as the “Forest COP,” this decision has drawn unprecedented and crucial attention to Belém and the wider Amazon basin.
This momentum needs to be retained in the years to come, as the Amazon is the world’s largest tropical forest and a global climate regulator, thus making it an undisputed protagonist of present and future climate change mitigation efforts.
But the Amazon is not only made up of forests: It is an urban place, home to 50 million people, with 72% living in cities. Safeguarding the Amazon inevitably means empowering its cities by understanding their unique contexts and needs, and building sustainable, resilient, and inclusive communities for all.
The future of the planet cannot be discussed without involving the cities and regions who are most affected by climate change – and most in need for climate justice and resilience. This was the key message brought by Mayor Normando in a video statement released by ICLEI ahead of COP30.
ICLEI has a longstanding history of collaboration with urban centers in the Amazon region, with eighteen Members in five countries. Among them is Belém, the capital and most populous city of the state of Pará, and an ICLEI Member since 2022. A pioneer in local climate efforts, Belém hopes that the package of solutions they are implementing can allow the city to lead by example amongst Amazonian urban areas, and even become a global model of local climate leadership.
Belém has an ambitious vision for 2050, one of a carbon-neutral city, planned in symbiosis with natural ecosystems and with its people, enhancing its population in all its cultural diversity. The vision does not focus solely on the interactions between the forest and the urban environment, but it places residents as central actors to protect and empower through climate action efforts.
“Climate justice does not exist in any way, if there is not also social justice. It is important to look at the rivers, to look at the forest; but it becomes just as essential that we look at those who live in the forests,” Mayor Normando reiterated during his LGMA intervention.
Using these principles as a basis, the Belém Local Climate Action Plan (Plano Local de Ação Climática – PLAC-Belém) embodies the city’s latest climate efforts.The Plan is an instrument to orient the city’s response to present and future climate challenges. Belém partnered with the Interamerican Development Bank and ICLEI, to offer its residents a pathway for a more sustainable, just and resilient future for all.
Announced on the first day of COP30, the Plan sets ambitious goals, including achieving net-zero GHG emissions (Belém has developed one of the most comprehensive greenhouse-gas assessments in the Amazon) and reducing the share of the population living in vulnerable and high-risk areas by 100% – all by 2050.
Belém, and other urban settlements in the Amazon region, are a prime example of the intrinsic connection that cities have with nature.
Integrating biodiversity and climate resilience into urban planning was the central theme of the high-level visit to Gunnar Vingren Park in Belém on 15 November, a side event during COP30, attended by a delegation of global leaders, including Germany’s Minister for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Carsten Schneider.
The park spans 38 hectares of intact Amazon rainforest and is a major flood reduction and heat mitigation infrastructure for the city, showcasing nature’s role as a key partner in urban resilience. The park’s conservation efforts also evidence how Belém is pushing forward its climate action agenda.
Gunnar Vingren Park was identified as one of priority sites in the Nature-Based Cities: Biodiversity and Climate Resilience for Urban Development (NBCities) project, implemented by ICLEI South America and financed by the Global Ecosystem-based Adaptation Fund, a joint funding mechanism co-managed by IUCN and UNEP with support from IKI.
The NBCities project also includes the development of the Polygon of Parks (Polígono dos Parques) program, which aims to strengthen urban resilience by linking five major green areas in the city of Belém.
Minister Schenider further underscored the vital importance of the Amazon forest for the whole world: “We must protect the last pieces of the Amazon forest in Belém – not only for COP, but because the Amazon is the lungs of the world. We need to stay together, even after this conference of the future.”
With the conclusion of COP30, it indeed remains crucial not to lose sight of the Amazon region’s vital role in the global climate landscape. Models of climate resilience and sustainability, such as that of the city of Belém, should be acknowledged for their pioneering efforts and mirrored on a regional, but also global scale in the years to come.
As Mayor Normando reminded global leaders at the COP30 High Level Segment, it is time that “the world may look at the Amazon with more respect.”
