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STORY: BELEM / COP30 HEALTH ACTION PLAN
TRT: 02:44
SOURCE: UN NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10, 14 NOVEMBER 2025, BELEM, BRAZIL
10 NOVEMBER 2025, BELEM, BRAZIL
1. Pan left, exterior, COP30 venue
14 NOVEMBER 2025, BELEM, BRAZIL
2. Close up, parrot toy at COP30 venue
3. Med shot, IOM Deputy Director General for Operations
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“Early warning systems, resilience services and livelihoods in the high-risk areas are vital to support the right to stay. When we as IOM speak to many of those who have been displaced, when you ask them what they want and what solutions mean for them, it's about being able to go home. But the homes that they know, the livelihoods that they had. Have been impacted by climate. So, it's about building their resilience.”
5. Med shot, Daniels
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“There's a lot that has been said about climate finance and this finance getting to local communities, Indigenous people, and migrants. But we want to go beyond saying it. We want to go beyond recognizing it has to be implementing.”
7. Med shot, Daniels
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“Climate policies need to have human mobility front and centre. Because it's about people, right? When we talk about climate-induced mobility, it's a very fancy way of saying people who have moved, right. So, we see great opportunity here at COP30 to take all of this into their negotiations and the outcomes, particularly for adaptation and loss and damage.”
9. Med shot, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Alfonso Herrera at COP30 venue
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Alfonso Herrera, Actor, Goodwill Ambassador, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“When we talk about climate crisis, when we talk about refugees that are that have been suffering the impacts of climate crisis, we're talking about voices that have not been heard, and this is a possibility for them to speak about matters that are important.”
11. Med shot, Herrera at COP30 venue
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alfonso Herrera, Actor, Goodwill Ambassador, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“When we talk about Brazil, we talk about a much broader reception, with much wider arms for all the people who have been forced to flee. And at the same time, that is something I deeply celebrate, considering the decisions of other countries as well, which unfortunately are completely the opposite. So, I celebrate that these types of events are taking place, and at the same time, I celebrate what Brazil is doing and the openness and flexibility it has towards refugees.”
10 NOVEMBER 2025, BELEM, BRAZIL
13. Wide shot, exterior, COP30 venue
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling on global leaders to protect the rights and dignity of those living on the frontlines of the climate crisis, including migrants and displaced persons, Indigenous Peoples, and traditional and local communities.
Floods, heatwaves, droughts and storms are forcing millions from their homes every year. Most never cross a border; they remain internally displaced yet uprooted all the same. But experts warn that in the not-so-distant future, entire nations could disappear beneath rising seas or become uninhabitable through drought.
At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, IOM is pressing negotiators to make climate mobility a core part of adaptation plans.
Ugochi Daniels, IOM’s Deputy Director General today (14 Nov) said, “early warning systems, resilience services and livelihoods in the high-risk areas are vital to support the right to stay.”
Daniels said many of those who have been displaced, “when you ask them what they want and what solutions mean for them, it's about being able to go home. But the homes that they know, the livelihoods that they had. Have been impacted by climate. So, it's about building their resilience.”
Across 80 countries, IOM runs projects that put local communities in charge of solutions. Daniels expressed hope that COP30 will be a turning point especially in national adaptation plans and financing for loss and damage.
She said, “there's a lot that has been said about climate finance and this finance getting to local communities, Indigenous people, and migrants. But we want to go beyond saying it. We want to go beyond recognizing it has to be implementing.”
Climate policies, the IOM official said, “need to have human mobility front and centre,” adding that COP30 could be a “great opportunity” to bring these issues into negotiations and outcomes.
Mexican actor and Latin America Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Alfonso Herrera said, “when we talk about climate crisis, when we talk about refugees that are that have been suffering the impacts of climate crisis, we're talking about voices that have not been heard and this is a possibility for them to speak about matters that are important.”
Herrera, who has travelled across the region – from Mexico to Venezuela, Honduras and El Salvador -witnessing the human cost of climate displacement, believes Brazil’s openness to welcome refugees deserves recognition, especially “when so many other countries take the completely opposite attitude.”
As COP30 debates how to adapt to a changing planet, displaced people remind the world that climate action is not just about saving ecosystems – it’s about protecting lives, preserving dignity, and ensuring no one is left behind by the rising tide.
