The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), the United Nations' largest global forum on climate change, was held at the end of 2025 in Belém do Pará, in northern Brazil. This is a region that covers a large part of the Amazon biome and, at the same time, faces some of the most critical challenges in ensuring meaningful connectivity for local communities.
The Local Networks (LocNet) initiative – led by APC and Rhizomatica – took advantage of the occasion to discuss how the structuring principles of community-centred connectivity initiatives and those of socio-environmental justice can align and reinforce each other. To that end, LocNet partnered with Rede Wayuri, a local network of popular communicators in the Amazon that provided special coverage of COP30.
With four episodes, these Eco Sound Bites at COP30 are part of this coverage, featuring a series of interviews with members of local organisations and groups working on socio-environmental justice. From their communities, they reflect on community connectivity, communication resources and technologies.
This partnership sought to learn from local actors and social movements how connectivity impacts their realities and how technological practices can support and strengthen their efforts. It also aimed to raise awareness about the community-centred connectivity agenda and its impact on environmental justice within the scope of COP30.
By prioritising community voices and experiences, this initiative seeks to amplify the positive impact that meaningful connectivity can have in supporting communities defending their territories while mitigating potential harms and risks that the internet can bring. By focusing on environmental justice, community-centred connectivity helps demonstrate that another form of connection is possible: one that serves both people and the planet.
Check out the series of interviews (available in Portuguese, with English subtitles):
Episode 1: Eco Sound Bites at COP30
In the first episode, we talk to Abner Suruí, photographer and communicator for the Paiter Surui people, who is covering the event for the People's Climate Alliance. He points out that while authorities discuss funding for climate change, Indigenous communities are taking care of their lands. He emphasises the importance of communities having access to the resources they need to produce content that amplifies their realities and protects their lands and ancestral heritage.
Episode 2: Eco Sound Bites at COP30
In the second episode, Chief Jonas Mura, from the Gavião Indigenous Territory and participating on behalf of Floresta Digital, reflects on the different ways in which communication can contribute to communities,
whether for guidance, information or even the preservation of life.
Episode 3: Eco Sound Bites at COP30E
In this third episode, Lindonês Castro, from the Olhos do Xingu collective, comments on the “Conexão povos da Floresta” project, which brings connectivity to the most remote areas of the Amazon, with a strong emphasis on protecting local territories, while fostering communication, public policies and telemedicine.
Episode 4: Eco Sound Bites at COP30
In the last episode of the series, Luzia Camiña, from Casa Preta Amazônia, reflects on connectivity as a strategic resource for traditional communities, for bringing young people closer together, and also for preserving ancestral knowledge.
Listen to more Eco Sound Bites here.
Read more on community-centred connectivity and environmental justice from the coverage developed for the COP30.