William travelled to the South American country to stage his Earthshot Prize in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday and the following day gave a landmark speech at the Cop30 UN Climate Change summit in Belem, a city in the Amazon. He told delegates, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer: “Where Indigenous people and local communities have secured land rights, deforestation is lower, biodiversity is richer, and carbon is better stored. It aims to help indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities secure ancestral land rights, enabling them to protect critical natural ecosystems for generations to come. Earlier this week the prince pledged to back those “standing up and defending nature” with a new fund covering indigenous advocates protecting the Amazon. In his speech at Cop30, William said: “At London Climate Action Week, I convened governments, philanthropists, and Indigenous leaders to issue a Call to Action – for land tenure and forest finance pledges to be delivered at Cop30 here in Brazil.

Source: The Times November 07, 2025 16:50 UTC