By the Natural Resource Women Platform (NRWP), Liberia
COP30 has ended in Belém, Brazil. The declarations were bold, the speeches were polished, and the Global Mutirão package was presented as a breakthrough. But for the women who defend forests, land, and water with their bodies and their lives, the outcomes fall far short of what justice demands.
The world cannot continue applauding incremental progress while frontline women defenders face escalating threats, shrinking civic space, and deepening climate impacts. COP30 may have delivered commitments — but it did not deliver protection, equity, or accountability.
And without those, climate ambition is an illusion.
The Hard Truth: Progress Without Power Is Not Progress
Yes, COP30 reaffirmed the need for “deep, rapid and sustained” emission cuts. Yes, it set a long‑term finance ambition of US$1.3 trillion annually by 2035. Yes, adaptation finance is expected to triple, and the Gender Action Plan was renewed.
But these gains are overshadowed by the failures:
- No time‑bound fossil fuel phase‑out
- No binding commitments to protect environmental defenders
- No structural reforms to make climate finance accessible to grassroots communities
- No guarantee that gender commitments will be funded, not just celebrated
Meanwhile, women defenders continue to face intimidation, criminalization, sexual violence, and exclusion — even as they protect the ecosystems that global climate stability depends on.
The world cannot claim climate leadership while ignoring the violence faced by those who defend the planet.
A Direct Message to Donors: Fund Power, Not Promises
COP30 opened political space, but financial access remains locked behind bureaucratic walls. If donors are serious about climate justice, they must stop funding around communities and start funding into them.
We call on bilateral donors, climate funds, philanthropic institutions, and development partners to:
- Fund women-led and community-based organizations directly — not through layers of intermediaries
- Remove rigid, exclusionary requirements that shut out grassroots groups
- Invest in land rights, community monitoring, and early-warning systems
- Finance protection mechanisms for environmental defenders as core climate action
- Fully fund gender action plans — not just endorse them
- Ensure Loss and Damage finance reaches the communities who are already losing the most
Climate finance that never reaches the front lines is not climate finance. It is climate theater.
A Message to Governments: Protection Is a Duty, Not an Option
Governments cannot stand on global stages calling for climate justice while failing to protect the very people who deliver it. Environmental defenders — especially women — must be recognized as human rights defenders, not obstacles to development.
States must:
- Guarantee civic space and freedom from retaliation
- Enforce laws that protect land and environmental rights
- Hold corporations accountable for abuses in concession areas
- Ensure FPIC is respected in all natural resource decisions
- Integrate women defenders into national climate governance structures
Protection is not charity. It is a legal obligation.
What COP30 Means for Liberia: A Call to Lead Where the World Hesitated
For Liberia, COP30 sends two urgent signals:
Liberia must act nationally where COP30 failed globally.
The world avoided a fossil fuel phase‑out. Liberia cannot afford to do the same. We must:
- Strengthen environmental enforcement
- Secure community land rights
- Protect forests from extractive pressures
- Uphold FPIC in all concession processes
Liberia’s forests are not bargaining chips. They are lifelines.
Women defenders must be at the center of climate governance.
Across Liberia — from Grand Cape Mount to Sinoe to Nimba — women are monitoring forests, reporting abuses, restoring ecosystems, and supporting communities through climate shocks. Yet they remain underfunded, under-recognized, and under-protected.
The renewed Gender Action Plan is an opportunity for Liberia to:
- Adopt gender-responsive climate policies
- Allocate dedicated funding for women-led climate initiatives
- Provide legal, digital, and physical protection for women defenders
- Formally recognize women’s leadership at community and national levels
Liberia’s climate response will fail if women defenders are not shaping it.
The Line We Draw After COP30
COP30 delivered direction — but not justice. It promised finance — but not access. It acknowledged gender — but not safety. It recognized loss and damage — but not equitable delivery.
NRWP stands firm: We will not accept climate action that excludes the women who defend the climate. We will not accept finance that never reaches the front lines. We will not accept protection that exists only on paper.
Women are not waiting for permission. They are leading. They are resisting. They are protecting the climate with courage and conviction.
And we will continue to stand with them — until global commitments become lived realities.
By: Radiatu H. S. Kahnplaye GAI Head of Administration and Senior Policy Analyst, Natural Resource Women Platform (NRWP), Liberia