Expert Comment: Reflections on COP30 in Belém

Researchers from across the University of Oxford including our Senior Research Fellow, Professor Nathalie Seddon, were on the ground at COP30 in Belém, taking part in side events, presenting new research, and working with partners to support the negotiations and inform the wider political process.

Oxford experts, Thomas Hale, Professor in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Dr Aline Soterroni, Senior Research Fellow at the Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Oxford Net Zero, and Department of Biology, and Nathalie Seddon, Professor of Biodiversity and Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative in the Department of Biology, Director of the Agile Initiative, co-lead of the Biodiversity and Society Programme and Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, share their perspectives on COP30 here.

"One of my main takeaways from this COP in Belém is that the political mandate is there, but the plan is not. President Lula has called for a roadmap on forests; Indigenous Peoples and local communities are here in historic numbers, asserting their rights and their critical role as forest protectors; and scientists are warning that parts of the Amazon are approaching critical tipping points. Yet the draft outcome still lacks a concrete, time-bound Forest Roadmap, and attempts to strengthen cooperation across the Rio Conventions on climate, biodiversity and land have been markedly diluted."

Professor Nathalie Seddon, Senior Research Fellow, Wadham