We met Andrés Tombe, member of the Misak Indigenous peoples community at the COP16 Montpellier Process use case dialogue hosted by Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Andrés emphasizes the importance of not just listening to but actively including and engaging Indigenous peoples’ communities by co-creating spaces for dialogue.

He also carried this message to COP29 in Baku, where he noted: “This COP has been largely closed to civil society, with limited participation from Indigenous communities, especially from Latin America. Our concern is that our voices and knowledge are being sidelined in these climate negotiations. We hope COP30 in Brazil will be different, with robust Indigenous participation.”

We need to reimagine COPs as solutions-driven platforms with inclusive representation, and collaboration across the Rio Conventions. The Montpellier Process is paving the way.