Young climate activist Vhon Michael Tobes was a day away from beginning his journey to Brazil for the Cop30 summit when Typhoon Kalmaegi hit.
His home is in Samar, the most easterly of the islands that make up the Philippines.
“We are located right next to the Pacific Ocean so we are sort of like the entrance point for typhoons,” he said.
Kalmaegi burst through that entrance with brute force, the latest in a series of typhoons that have been characterised by increasing ferocity.
RM Block
“My father woke me at 3am and already the water was coming into our house. It was too late to save much. I lost nearly half of everything that I own.”
Tobes (22) lost years of his writings, his house was damaged, neighbouring homes were washed away, 260 people were killed and the water supply and power networks were destroyed.
“I didn’t know if I could make it to the airport. There was a lot of mud and debris on the roads.
“It’s heartbreaking and enraging that while leaders are negotiating for a brighter tomorrow, my people are trying to survive right now.
“They always talk about tomorrow when people are already suffering.”
Tobes was one of around 80 climate activists who gathered in Belém, the Cop30 host city, for a march organised by the student movement, Fridays for Future.
A handful of police cars lined up nearby and officers kept watch but made no interference with the chanting, banner waving and slogan shouting.
The next day, the scene was replicated on a much larger scale as thousands gathered for the People’s Summit march.
They walked four kilometres through the city waving flags, singing, carrying a giant globe and other symbolic items, many in matching shirts or the head dress and traditional adornments of their Amazonian tribes.
Art Maluvida (26) of the Tupinamba people, carried a poster that said: “Mother Earth is not for sale.”
“No oil, no mining, no mining companies, no carbon credits, no agribusiness bandits,” she said. “We are the guardians of this territory, we are the citizens of this territory, we are the resistance for this territory."
Brazil’s ministers for indigenous people and the environment, Sonica Guajajara and Marina Silva, joined the marchers for a time.
It was very different from the last three Cops, held in authoritarian countries where wearing an activist pin on a T-shirt risked attention from police and, for those with observer status at the negotiations, expulsion from the summit.
Inside the summit venue, the protests were acknowledged by officials.
“We’ve been reminded again that every one of your populations and economies need us to get results here in Belém – by the protesters in the streets, by the storms that are hitting so many countries,” head of UN Climate, Simon Stiell, told delegates on Saturday night.
What results will be achieved remain unclear, however.
The Brazilian hosts believe a reinforcement of existing pledges and actions towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing funding to help poor countries make the change will be sufficient achievement given the background geopolitical tensions.
Cop30 president André Correa do Lago played down the chances of a “cover decision” – a statement of new or enhanced ambitions.
But many countries are pushing for something fresh out of Belém such as a clear roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels rather than the vague intention currently in writing, or a legally tighter declaration of richer countries’ financial obligations to poor nations.
Talks resume on Monday with the arrival of scores of environment and climate ministers, including Darragh O’Brien, intended to help complete the summit by Friday.
