Periphery Groups Send Climate Letter to COP30 ^{CEFR B1}

Activists from São Paulo peripheries mobilized in the months before COP30 to discuss climate goals and to draft a collective document. The letter, titled “Letter from the Peripheries on Commitments for the Climate – The Atmosphere is Tense!”, contains about 30 proposals and is signed by 50 collectives and 1,000 community leaders. The group will present the document at COP30 in Belém on November 10–21, 2025.

The proposals cover waste management, environmental education, decent housing, a solidarity economy and basic sanitation. They include specific measures such as not expanding landfills in poorer neighbourhoods, creating a green currency for recycling, and holding polluters and public authorities accountable. The letter also recommends community actions like cleaning streams, community reforestation, vegetable gardens, stronger recycling cooperatives, rainwater collection and local adaptation plans led by communities.

The Peripheral Front for Rights organized the letter after social movements worked together during COVID-19 to distribute food and hygiene kits. Coordinator Edson Pardinho, 50, lives in Dom Tomás Balduíno Settlement in Franco da Rocha. Clair Helena Santos, 67, a housing movement coordinator, was selected to attend COP30 and the letter asks for an end to evictions and violent practices against settlements and favelas.