From 10–21 November 2025, COP30 convened in Belém, Brazil, long discussed for its gateway-to-the-Amazon setting and for what it might mean for moving from pledges to implementation. On this occasion, the Wyss Academy for Nature hosted two discussions at the Goeldi Museum, bringing science, policy, and practice into the same room to examine how place-based approaches can link forests, risk, and local economies, so that commitments become workable programs for people and nature. The sessions reflected long-term commitments in the South American Solutionscape: co-creating grounded insights with partners, strengthening governance, and advancing equitable pathways that protect biodiversity and livelihoods. 

Alongside the formal negotiations, the Goeldi Museum’s off-site setting offered more room for informal exchange. As talks intensified, these parallel gatherings became practical forums to compare methods, discuss early results, and explore partnership ideas. Hosting our sessions at the museum, where the Swiss Pavilion was also based, brought discussions closer to day-to-day realities. The venue helped participants ground policy questions in lived experience and practical constraints. This setting kept the focus on how policies meet practice in specific places, and on the evidence needed to make choices, fund them, and adapt as results come in. 

Our first session, “Territories for resilience,” examined how territorial approaches can build climate resilience while sustaining forest-based economies. The discussion focused on what it takes to align governance, financing, and cooperation at the scale where people live and manage land.

Speakers brought complementary vantage points. Martín von Hildebrand, Executive Secretary of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), underscored the importance of cross-border collaboration and Indigenous stewardship for Amazon-wide pathways. Ellen Acioli, Amazon Sector Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, highlighted how bioeconomy strategies and financing can be designed with Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and traditional communities at the center. From the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Regional Director Marie-Laure Crettaz linked regional policy dialogue with operational programs. From the Wyss Academy, Head of Global Policy Outreach Tatjana von Steiger emphasized how global norms can be translated into practice, and Hub South America Director Miguel Saravia brought a regional lens on collaboration and implementation.

The session’s core insight was practical: territorial approaches are foundational for building resilience - connecting climate risk reduction, near-forest economies, and inclusive governance. By focusing on places, as well as the people and institutions shaping them, actors can co-develop solutions that fit socio-ecological realities, then share grounded lessons across borders. This perspective is substantial to our approach: co-design with communities and authorities, enable better decision-making and governance, and scale what works through transformative partnerships. The event also highlighted the importance of co-creating knowledge, empowering women and youth, and leveraging regional cooperation platforms like ACTO to amplify local voices and scale impact

Our following session, “Alliances under the canopy”, invited participants to reflect on the multidimensional value of forests and to identify synergies for stronger regional governance. The discussion surfaced how narratives, policy instruments, and investments can be aligned to support a low-carbon, resilient future in which forests are protected, and local well-being improves.

Senior Advisor at the Wyss Academy for Nature, Armando Valdés-Velásquez, set the frame around human–nature interdependencies and the need for participatory governance. Participants discussed the connections of regional cooperation to on-the-ground collaboration, pointing to opportunities where science can inform policy choices and where local knowledge can guide program design. The conversation was less about declarations and more about values and working principles: shared evidence, clear roles, and practical coordination across institutions.

As our Regional Director, Miguel Saravia, put it: “The great challenge is to turn dialogue into concrete action. Today we confirmed that many efforts are underway for the Amazon, but articulation is still missing. Spaces like this are essential for connecting, learning from one another, and driving real change. That’s exactly what we witnessed today, participants connecting, sharing experiences, and building the bridges that will turn ideas into impact.”

Stepping back from the side rooms to the negotiation floor, Belém’s outcome sent mixed signals. Countries highlighted plans to expand climate and adaptation finance over time, while a binding timeline for phasing out fossil fuels did not advance. Switzerland joined more than 80 countries in advocating a phaseout. The emphasis now shifts to delivery, at home and through partnerships.

For the Wyss Academy, this is where we can add value: implementation in territories. As Tatjana von Steiger notes in her report, “Lasting change only succeeds when knowledge is shared, new forms of cooperation are tested, and those affected are heard.” In Belém, that meant convening partners, clarifying roles, and surfacing methods we can adapt and apply across the Amazon Solutionscape, so that commitments become programs that work for people and forests.

In the Amazon, resilience is built where decisions are made—between communities, authorities, and the organizations that support them. It depends on institutions that coordinate across sectors and jurisdictions, on finance that reaches local actors, and on public decision-making that recognizes the rights and knowledge of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities. Working at the scale of places brings these pieces together: align risk management with forest-positive economies, strengthen accountable institutions, and keep programs adaptive through shared baselines and feedback loops.

This is where the Wyss Academy adds value across the Amazon Solutionscape—co-developing solutions with partners, documenting what works and why, and circulating grounded insights so policies and investments improve over time. Looking ahead to COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, the task remains clear: move from discussion to delivery, and ensure that institutions and investment channels work for forests, and for the people who depend on them.