BELÉM, Brazil - When I was 18, taking the bus from my neighbourhood in Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, to university, I noticed the stark absence of trees and green spaces. What should have been ordinary public spaces, parks where children could play or families could come together, didn’t exist. It was a sign that some lives, some communities are systematically excluded from decisions about the world they live in.
I, like many young people in my community, refused to accept it. We fought to transform an abandoned army munitions factory into Parque Realengo Susana Naspolini, a place where culture, community and nature intersect. That pulled me into climate activism and eventually led to my appointment as the Presidency Youth Champion for COP30.
My path has shown me that real change happens when people have the power to act, when their voices shape the policies that affect their lives.
