IFLA issues 'Call To Action' for the Belém Climate Summit | COP30

Ahead of COP30 - the 30th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - commencing in Brazil, the International Federation of Landscape Architects released a COP30 Position Statement, titled ‘A Call to Action for COP30: Putting Landscape at the Heart of Climate Action.’

In summary the position statement/ call to action confronts the climate and biodiversity crisis as a fundamental "failure of design", a result of human systems built in conflict with natural ones. It urges global leaders and financiers to “move beyond siloed, carbon-only targets and instead: Integrate Landscape as Critical Infrastructure”.

Note: This comes with an open invitation to contact the IFLA Delegation via president@iflaworld.org to ask questions about the call to action and/or to offer endorsements for it.

The IFLA delegation for COP30 - running from 10-21 November - consists of Dr Bruno Marques (IFLA President); Indra Purs (IFLA Europe President and Outgoing IFLA Chair of Professional Practice); Kotchakorn Voraakhom (IFLA Special Envoy for Climate Change & Land process, Thailand); Nadine Bitar (IFLA Middle East Vice-President); Prof Luciana Schenk (CAU SP & ABAP, Brazil); Rafael Dodera (IFLA Americas President); and Steffi Schüppel (bdla, Germany).

The delegation is actively contributing to key COP30 discussions on climate action and biodiversity; health, wellbeing and nature-based solutions; community participation; technology and evidence-based design; food security; and traditional knowledge and indigenous practices.

Climate High-Level Champions

A strong reference is made in the IFLA Position Statement to aligning landscape architects with Climate High-Level Champions (HLCs) and an Action Agenda that has been put in place to “engage actors who do not negotiate agreements, but are essential to putting them into practice”.

Accordingly, IFLA is pressing for a need to leverage the new prominence being given to non-state actors and implementers and for a clear recognition of landscape architects as critical actors.

“We are those implementers,” IFLA states, adding:

“Our profession is uniquely skilled in designing, planning, and managing the built and natural environment. We are the system-thinkers and essential collaborators needed to turn climate ambition into an on-the-ground reality. Building on the practical solutions presented in our Works with Nature: Low-Carbon Adaptation Techniques for a Changing World guide launched at COP29, we are here to demonstrate how to implement these techniques at a global scale”.

Key quotes contained in the IFLA Position statement are

Dr Bruno Marques, IFLA President: "Our message at COP30 is a fundamental truth: landscape must come first. For too long, we have treated nature as a green decoration; it is, in fact, the foundational operating system for all life. We urge global leaders to move beyond siloed, carbon-only targets and put landscape-led, nature-based solutions at the very heart of all new climate commitments."

Indra Purs, IFLA Europe President: "Gathering in Belém, we must recognise that we cannot build a viable future without nature. The solution is to retrofit our world with nature. IFLA is calling for a global 'Retrofit Revolution'—one that integrates ecological science, community co-creation, and Traditional Indigenous Knowledge to create cities and systems that are truly climate-positive and life-sustaining."

Rafael Dodera, IFLA Americas President: "The climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and public health are not separate problems. They are all symptoms of a single design failure: building human systems in conflict with natural ones. As landscape architects, we are the integrators who can weave these systems back together. We are here at COP30 to champion a landscape-led future as the only viable path to a resilient and just world."

[Available to download as a PDF on iflaworld.com ]

IFLA Position Statement 2 November 2025

A Call to Action for COP30: PUT LANDSCAPE AT THE HEART OF CLIMATE ACTION

Join the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) in urging global leaders to put landscape at the heart of all climate action in COP30 negotiations and new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

As world leaders gather in Belém, at the gateway to the Amazon, the planet's vital heart, we are confronted by a climate and biodiversity crisis. This crisis is, at its core, a failure of design; a result of human systems built in conflict with natural ones.

The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) urges all global leaders, non-state actors, and financiers to recognise a fundamental truth: LANDSCAPE MUST COME FIRST.

Without healthy, resilient, and life-sustaining landscapes, there are no viable cities, no secure food systems, no public health, and no future for humankind.

From Silos to Systems: A Landscape-Led Future

As COP30 moves climate policy from commitments to implementation, anchored in the first Global Stocktake and the High-Level Champions' (HLCs) Action Agenda, it is essential to recognise landscape architects as critical actors.

For too long, we have operated in silos. The climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and social inequity have been treated as separate problems. This paradigm has failed.

Landscape is not a green decoration; it is the foundational operating system for life. It is the integrator that weaves together carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water management, food production, and human health. Landscape architects are the bridge between high-level climate goals and the tangible transformation of our cities, regions, and infrastructures. We embed Nature-based Solutions to mitigate heat and manage stormwater; we design adaptable, regenerative landscapes that buffer communities from climate shocks; and we integrate sustainable development into the core of all planning and design.

The solution is not just to reduce emissions but to retrofit our world with nature. We must move from commitment to implementation by embedding landscape-led solutions, including Nature-based Solutions, green-blue infrastructure, and community-led ecosystem restoration, as the primary framework for a just and resilient future.

Our Call to Action for Belém

As countries prepare new, ambitious NDCs ahead of COP30, IFLA calls on all parties to:

  • Integrate Landscape as Critical Infrastructure: Move beyond carbon-centric NDCs. We call for new commitments that are landscape-centric, prioritising investment in restoring ecosystems, implementing "Sponge Cities" to build urban water resilience, and scaling this vision to a "Sponge Planet", a world where restored landscapes are the primary infrastructure for climate adaptation and biodiversity.

  • Finance the Foundation: Recognise that healthy landscapes are the most cost-effective and durable climate infrastructure. We call for a redirection of global finance to support scalable, replicable, and modular landscape interventions, positioning them as strategic assets for financing climate action.

  • Empower Integrators and Indigenous Knowledge: Champion a systems-thinking approach. This requires breaking down policy silos and embracing the expertise of landscape architects as the essential integrators who can unite ecology, policy, and community co-creation. We call for the formal integration of landscape architectural expertise into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), climate-resilience strategies, and municipal planning to ensure local communities are engaged and nature-based solutions benefit the underserved. This process must be guided by and integrated with the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, the original stewards of our most critical landscapes.

  • Mandate Metrics and Monitoring for Implementation: Move from design to delivery. We urge all parties to translate the HLCs' six pillars into project briefs with defined metrics, such as reduction in surface temperature, cubic meters of stormwater managed, or increases in biodiversity indices. We must embed monitoring and evaluation into all projects to build a measurable pipeline of climate action.

Further Links to follow that COP

United Nations, Climate Change, #Around-the-worldStephen Olsen