| Thousands gathered at Belém's Batista Campos square as COP30 began, but few international participants knew the journey that brought them there. In three years, dozens of Brazilian faith organisations had crossed nine Amazonian states. They created spaces where Indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, women, youth and faith leaders from African-origin religions could share their struggles against fundamentalisms and build new routes towards justice. The World Council of Churches, through Julia Rensberg, an Indigenous Sámi youth from northern Europe, joined this movement at its culmination, witnessing how listening and encounter can heal deep wounds and inspire hope. |
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 | | 13 November 2025, Belém, Brazil: Sign for the ecumenical and interfaith initiative TAPIRI pictured at the Anglican Cathedral of Santa Maria in BelÃ:copyright:m, in connection with the United Nations climate summit COP30 taking place in Belém, Brazil, on 10-21 November 2025. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert |
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The journey began in 2022 during the 10th Pan-Amazonian Social Forum in Belém, when the Ecumenical Coordination of Service launched what would become the Ecumenical and Interreligious Tapiri. The word "tapiri" is an Indigenous expression referring to simple, fragile shelters that offer refuge to those who live with deep respect for what Mother Earth provides. The image fit what the Ecumenical Coordination of Service wanted: modest spaces where people could gather, listen, and build solidarity across differences.
"There is no division between human beings, living beings and the Earth," said Ninawa Inu of the Federation of the Huni Kui People in Acre. "We are not superior to Mother Earth. We are brothers and sisters, we are daughters and sons of Mother Earth." |
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 | | 13 November 2025, Belém, Brazil: People from a variety of religious traditions gather for a Vigil for the Earth – marching from the Anglican Cathedral of Santa Maria to the nearby square Praça Batista Campos for the vigil itself – as part of the ecumenical and interfaith initiative TAPIRI, organized in connection with the United Nations climate summit COP30 taking place in Belém, Brazil, on 10-21 November 2025. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert |
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Supported by the Ford Foundation through the "Amazon of All Struggles" project, the Ecumenical Coordination of Service organised gatherings from Pará to Acre. Each Tapiri brought together representatives of different religions, social movements, civil society organisations, and communities whose constitutional rights have been threatened. The gatherings brought challenges into the open, but also hope. Participants discovered that although fundamentalist groups have pressed harder across the region, Christian people and diverse faith communities are building resistance together. The Tapiri created connections at the grassroots level, bringing together groups who shared the same spaces but had never spoken with one another about their common struggles. "More than a qualified listening process, the Tapiris created a connection at the grassroots," organisers noted. "In a unique movement, they brought together diverse groups who were already present in the same spaces, often fighting their daily battles, but who had never spoken with one another." |
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 | | 13 November 2025, Belém, Brazil: People from a variety of religious traditions gather for a Vigil for the Earth – marching from the Anglican Cathedral of Santa Maria to the nearby square Praça Batista Campos for the vigil itself – as part of the ecumenical and interfaith initiative TAPIRI, organized in connection with the United Nations climate summit COP30 taking place in Belém, Brazil, on 10-21 November 2025. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert |
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The journey changed more than Amazonian participants. Romi Bencke, human rights activist and for religious diversity and a pastor of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil, reflected on the meaning of the Tapiri experience: "Without including the religions of traditional peoples, there is no religious freedom and no ecumenism! We need to understand that ecumenism means common home, means dialogue, which is why we cannot restrict ecumenism to Christian religions alone. We must deconstruct the concept of Christian hegemony to build this ecumenism—the more religious freedom we have, the richer we become as a country!"
As voices echoed across Batista Campos square during the COP30 vigil, three years of testimony showed this: respectful dialogue, rooted in humility and openness to the other, remains a powerful tool. It confronts injustice and builds bridges across the fissures that threaten communities. The Tapiri experience demonstrated that whether in fragile shelters or crowded squares, encounters that honour dignity can change people and steel their resolve for justice. Founded in 1973, the Ecumenical Coordination of Service, a member of ACT Alliance, is formed by four WCC member churches (Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, and United Presbyterian Church of Brazil), plus the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference of Brazil and the Alliance of Baptists of Brazil. WCC's COP30 coverage at www.oikoumene.org/cop30 COP30 Photo Galleries "Our common home is one": Rev. Sônia Mota urges faith communities to unite for climate justice at COP30 (Interview, 18 November 2025) Tapiri closing service brings climate justice decade to COP30 (News, 18 November) |
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