Conference of the Parties (COP)

COP is flawed. But it is still important.

For the past 30 years, global representatives have gathered for the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) climate summits.

The COP process has become a theatre of contradiction. Recent summits have been hosted by oil-rich nations and financed by polluters.

So why bother with the upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil?

Because this year’s event can still matter if we let the Amazon and those who protect it shift the power.

COP30 must use Indigenous leadership as a moral compass and finally shift power to those who have safeguarded Earth all along.

The COP process is flawed and rife with failures. But it remains one of the few spaces were civil society, youth, scientists and Indigenous leaders can confront power face-to-face.

This matters. We desperately need more global collaboration when multilateralism is threatened and authoritarianism is rising.

We must strip away industry influence, put human rights at the centre and make outcomes binding. If COP30 can deliver this type of necessary action, it will be remembered as a new beginning.” Janelle Lapointe, Senior Adviser, Indigenous Strategy.

Captured on film: The 1988-89 Brazil journey that shaped the Foundation

In 1988, David Suzuki and Tara Cullis worked with Paiakan and the Kayapo People (and many generous Canadians) to stop the Kararaô Dam (Now called Belo Monte Dam) in the lower Amazon. In 1989, David Suzuki’s CBC radio series It’s a Matter of Survival revealed that humanity was on a collision course with the living systems that sustain us. More than 17,000 people responded, sending letters asking what they could do to resolve the eco-crisis. From that public call, a vision emerged: to forge “a new dream of Earth,” grounded in science, Indigenous knowledge and bold action. That fall, delegates met on Pender Island to heed this call and explore strategies to prevent global environmental degradation and collapse. By the end of the weekend, they knew a new Foundation was possible and necessary. Thus, the David Suzuki Foundation was born and officially incorporated on September 14, 1990.

One of the Foundation’s first projects returned to the Amazon, building a research station with the Kayapo (which still thrives) and helping protect 11.5-million hectares of the Amazon rainforest. Soon after, 12-year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuki called on world leaders at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to take action for the sake of children everywhere.

Now, 35 years after the David Suzuki Foundation’s launch, delegates are headed back to Brazil for COP30. As we mark this milestone, we carry forward the same conviction that inspired our founding: Together, we’re capable of making real progress toward solving the interconnected crises of our time.

Here are photos from the Cullis-Suzuki’s 1988 and 1989 trips to the Amazon.