COP30 Short-Term Action Group
Brazil 2025
The COP30 Short-Term Action Group has been set up to enable coordinated civil society advocacy in the lead up to the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is taking place in Parà, Brazil, in November 2025.
Our Focus
The COP process represents the main climate change policy influencing mechanism as part of the UNFCCC. In recent years, there has been growing attention within COP processes to the intersection between climate change and health, including mental health. Health played a particularly central role in COP28 with a Health Day dedicated to health and a Ministerial Declaration on Climate & Health endorsed by more than 140 member states.
Mental health however remains unequally represented in this fora. For example, only 14 out of 55 ministerial interventions mentioned mental health as part of the Climate & Health Ministerial that took place at COP28. We want this to change. Mental health should receive the same amount of attention as physical health within climate discussions.
COP30 will take place in Parà, Brazil in 2025. COP30 will be particularly important given it represents an opportunity for countries to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This represents the third round of NDCs with a time horizon up to 2035.
Our Objectives:
Bring together stakeholders actively engaged in climate change and mental health and psychosocial programming, policy and advocacy in Brazil and the broader Latin America and Caribbean region.
Advocate for the integration of mental health and psychosocial wellbeing within the broader health, environmental, and social policy discussions at COP30.
Consider how COP30 could be used as a platform to promote policies that address the climate-mental health nexus at the national level across Brazil and the wider Latin America and Caribbean region.
Establish mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions aimed at addressing the climate-mental health nexus.
Coordinate the civil society efforts in the mental health and psychosocial sphere at COP30 (e.g., side events etc.). Additionally, provide tools and resources for building resilience and coping strategies in communities affected by climate-related stressors.
Environment, Climate Change and Mental Health Advocacy Briefs:
The Action Network has co-created and published important advocacy briefs focused on Environment, Mental Health and Wellbeing. They draw upon recommendations from esteemed organisations like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). These briefs provide a comprehensive overview of the current and projected impacts of climate change on mental health and outline practical measures that governments should undertake to address current and future mental health challenges. The briefs are currently being widely used by our members, with translations into French, Spanish and Portuguese, with more translations coming soon into Azerbaijani and simplified Chinese.
Our Work - The STAG is focusing on:
Themes related to issues of adaptation (NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), financing, and biodiversity.
2025 Global Conference on Climate and Health (Brasilia, 29-31 July): One of the main aims of the conference will be to finalise the Belem Health Action Plan. There is currently one section dedicated to MHPSS within the BHAM (section 2.7) and we are trying to influence and preserve the mental health language in this plan.
Case studies collection: United for Global Mental Health has commissioned the collection of case studies on how climate change is impacting mental health in two areas of Brazil: (i) among Indigenous communities living in the Tapajos region (work being led by the University of Parà), (ii) among people affected by the flooding in the Rio Grande do Sul region (work being led by Federal University of Rio Grande so Sul). We are planning on using these case studies for advocacy purposes to raise awareness of this intersection in Brazil and the broader region.
COP30 Event: (i) We have one event being organized together with the University of Parà which will take place during the first week of COP on the 12th of November. The event will focus on showcasing the case studies described above; (ii) We are in the process of submitting or co-organising other side-events to raise the profile of mental health in these discussions.
Recommended links:
Alessandro Massazza, United for Global Mental Health, From Baku to Belém: Mental health at COP29 and onwards
If you are interested in following this work, please first ensure you are a member of the Global Mental Health Action Network by signing up here, and join the Environment Working Group. This STAG is of particular interest to members in Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean.