Six rural, Indigenous and young women leaders from Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay are attending COP30 in Belém with United Kingdom support channelled through the British embassies in Buenos Aires, La Paz and Asunción. The funding forms part of the UK-backed Chaco Project, Weaving Networks, Building Impact, announced by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on 13 November 2025.
The delegation comprises Argentina’s Ibel Diarte, Tochi Benítez and Liliana Paniagua; Bolivia’s Arline Dayana Estrada Vaca; and Paraguay’s Nidia Beatriz Morejuán de Ruiz and Teresita Cabrera. As the British Ambassador to Paraguay noted, “Indigenous communities are on the frontlines of climate change… essential to protecting biodiversity and building resilient futures.”
The Gran Chaco is the second‑largest forested region in South America after the Amazon, spanning Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and a small part of Brazil. It holds rich biodiversity and is experiencing some of the continent’s fastest land‑use change, intensifying risks to communities and habitats.
The Chaco Project builds on a Trinational Gathering held from 30 September to 1 October and the 6th World Chaco Summit from 2 to 4 October, where participants agreed proposals for COP30 focused on climate finance access, land rights and the inclusion of young people in national strategies.
COP30 runs from 10 to 21 November 2025 in Belém. It is the region’s first UN climate conference in more than a decade and arrives as governments prepare new 2025 national climate plans, guided by lessons from the first global stocktake.
Finance is the immediate test. COP29 set a New Collective Quantified Goal of at least USD 300 billion a year by 2035 for developing countries, alongside a wider mobilisation effort towards USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035. The delegation’s emphasis on finance access directly engages this agenda.
Gender commitments are also in play. COP29 extended the Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender for ten years and initiated work toward a new Gender Action Plan for adoption in Belém, encouraging gender‑responsive finance and simpler access for grassroots women’s organisations. These decisions give formal entry points for the Chaco priorities.
Participation by Indigenous peoples is organised through the UNFCCC’s Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform. Ahead of COP30, the incoming Presidency convened a mandated dialogue on strengthening this role. The platform’s functions-knowledge sharing, capacity for engagement and policy interface-offer practical routes to feed Chaco proposals into negotiations.
For national focal points in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, the practical pathway to money includes the Green Climate Fund’s direct access, Readiness support and Simplified Approval Process for smaller, lower‑risk projects. GCF reports highlight growing use of these tools, while evaluations flag procedural complexity-issues many expect to see addressed as finance pledges translate into delivery.
Land tenure and the recognition of Indigenous knowledge remain enabling conditions for durable results in the Chaco. The IPCC links rights‑based approaches and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge with more effective adaptation outcomes-context for embedding land rights and youth participation in NDCs and national adaptation planning debated in Belém.