At COP30, Ana Carolina Lourenço shows how culture can bring climate policy closer to people

COP30 is underway in Belém, in Brazil’s northern state of Pará, with ICCI present and engaged. On 12 November, Programmatic Director Ana Carolina Lourenço, joined the panel “Climate, Culture, and African Diaspora: Connecting Territories and Ancestral Narratives for Climate Justice,” held at the Climate Live pavilion.

The panel explored how culture has the power to mobilise people, protect and value traditional knowledge, and strengthen climate justice initiatives. The discussion emphasised that ancestral heritage has generated enduring and creative narratives that persisted through the African diaspora and continue to inspire action locally and around the world. These ideas invite new ways of seeing the world, honouring cultures that were erased or marginalised, and recognising imagination as a territory in its own right.

Speaking on the panel, Ana Carolina celebrated the fact that culture is finally playing a major role in the COP30 agenda, arguing that it affects how we imagine the world and helps bring people together around political and social debates. She sees culture as a dynamic space where narratives can be shaped and reimagined, with the power to mobilise public awareness and inspire action for climate justice.

“A Culture Day at COP30, for the first time, is a victory for the climate movement and something to be celebrated. Culture is the pathway that connects climate policy to people and helps turn solutions to the climate crisis into reality,” she said, citing Lélia Gonzalez and her book Festas Populares no Brasil to show how Black Brazilians have historically shaped and redefined the country’s cultural imagination, refusing to separate political work from cultural work. Ana Carolina’s perspective invited the audience to expand their collective imagination, in line with Nego Bispo’s idea that orality teaches people to imagine, and that those who imagine learn to dream of futures. This approach serves as a reminder of the importance of including gender, race and class in the debate, and of addressing climate issues through an intersectional lens.

The panel also included Gabriel Mendes (Climate Live Brazil), Kumi Naidoo (Riky Rick Foundation), Marcele Oliveira (Brazil’s COP30 Youth Champion), Marcelo Rocha (Instituto Ayika) and Rahmina Paulette (Climate Live Kenya), with moderation by Marina Marçal (Waverley Street).