As the world gathers in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 10–21 November, we the peoples of Southasia and diaspora from every corner of this shared land raise our collective voice of justice, action, and hope.

Our Southasian region is home to nearly two billion people sharing rivers, airsheds, mountains, desert, forest and coastline. However, the Region is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable with melting glaciers, deadly floods, searing heat, and rising seas having become part of our daily reality.

A Call to Turn Promise into Action

While welcoming the renewed focus of COP30 on translating words into action, we remind the world that action without fairness will only deepen existing inequalities. The big emitters must shoulder their share of the burden without pressurizing the low emitters and the actual victims to shed their development imperatives.

We urge the global community, especially the major emitters and wealthy nations to honour and go beyond their pledges. The USD300 billion annual goal by 2035 is a start, not an end. For communities already losing homes, livelihoods, and heritage, climate justice cannot wait.

A Just Transition, Led by People

Southasia needs a transition that is not only green but just. This means accessible financing, open technology, and policies that protect the workers, women, farmers, indigenous community and youth who are driving real change on the ground.

The transition to low-carbon economies must be fair and inclusive. Climate finance must not be entangled in red tape or buried in loans. Funds need to reach local actors directly and protect workers, small farmers, fisherfolk, and informal sector communities who face the dual burden of climate impacts and economic transition.

Loss, Damage, and Dignity

Communities across Southasia live with the scars of disasters, some slow-moving, others sudden, some daily and others seasonal. 

The Loss and Damage Fund must become real and reachable, especially for high-risk regions like ours. We urge its immediate capitalization and fair management, with local voices guiding and involvement on how recovery is defined. Climate loss is not only about property and economics, it is about memories, language,culture and belonging. The social and cultural loss, tangible and intangible loss must count too.

Adaptation and Resilience: Our Right to Survive

For Southasia, adaptation is not a policy option, it is a right to survive.

We call for doubling global support for adaptation by 2030 and for elevating it alongside mitigation in every negotiation. From salt-resistant crops in the delta, adaptive shelters and housing in areas experiencing rising sea levels along coasts, to transboundary early warning systems in the Hindukush, Himalaya, Karakoram ranges, our region holds knowledge that can guide global resilience. We need partnership and involvement in decision-making, and implementation, not pity and handouts.

Technology and Knowledge Without Borders

The fight against climate change must not be trapped behind patents or politics. We call for a South–South platform to freely share technology, research, and green innovations.

Universities, scientists, entrepreneurs, communities and activists across Southasia are already collaborating. Southasia could achieve more with open access and fair funding.

Cooperation as the New Peace

The climate crisis is beyond geographical borders and political hurdles. We believe that climate cooperation can be the new peace process leading to economic prosperity. 

Let shared challenges like floods, air pollution, rainfall, glacier melt and energy transition become opportunities for rebuilding trust among our nations. Shared data, joint river management, adaptive success stories and people-to-people dialogues can transform climate vulnerability into regional strength.

Justice, Inclusion, and Human Rights

Real climate action begins and ends with people, not numbers.

We demand protection and recognition for those most affected: farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, children, and the millions already on the move due to climate displacement.

Their struggles and stories are not sidenotes – they are the centre of this crisis.
Climate policy must reflect the intersection of justice, gender, class, and culture, ensuring that transformation uplifts the most marginalized.

From Southasia to the Global Community

We bring to COP30 not only our demands, but also our determination. Southasia’s youth, climate activists, thinkers, and communities hold lessons in resilience, cooperation, and solidarity that the world urgently needs.

We propose the creation of a Southasian Climate Cooperation Framework; one that aligns our national actions with regional realities and amplifies our collective voice at global forums.

Let COP30 mark the moment when Southasia stood together across borders, across faiths, across fears to insist that peace and climate action are considered as one and the same struggle.

Our Collective Demands

We, the undersigned, call upon:

• COP 30 and global institutions to recognize Southasia’s shared vulnerabilities and collective potential in the COP30 outcomes and strengthen mechanisms for regional and cross-border cooperation within the UNFCCC framework.
• Developed nations to fulfill their fair share through finance, technology transfer, and reparative justice for loss and damage.
• Global institutions to design accessible finance systems that prioritize local actors and grassroots leadership.
• Southasian governments to: 
  - Stand above the political crisis and work together regionally on climate adaptation, renewable energy, and cooperative water and biodiversity management.
  - Allow civil society, youth, and people’s movements must be allowed to continue building transboundary solidarity and make demand for accountability at every level, without pressure or hindrance from national authorities.
  - Stop criminalising environmental activists. Release all such activists who have been incarcerated, in countries across Southasia

Together for Climate Justice, Peace, and a Shared Future!

We, members and friends of the Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan), reaffirm our commitment to keep bridges open between nations, between generations, and between movements.

Our vision is a Southasia with soft borders, united in justice, compassion, and climate justice action transforming this crisis into a shared opportunity for peace and renewal.

Endorsed by participants of the Sapan webinar “Bridging Borders: A Southasian Vision for COP30” – 26 October 2025

Issued by:
The Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan)
On behalf of Southasian peace and climate advocates