Climate Denial a Symptom of Larger Reality Dysfunction

Flat earth. People are waking up, all around the globe.

For the first time in the history of the Conferences of the Parties (COPs), the issue of the integrity of information on climate change has gained central prominence in international negotiations. The Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate, launched during COP30 in Belém this Wednesday (12), brings together countries, UN agencies, and civil organizations in a global commitment to combat misinformation that threatens the fight against the climate crisis.

In an exclusive interview with CENARIUM, Guilherme Canela, Director of the Division of Digital Inclusion, Policies and Digital Transformation at UNESCO, explained that the initiative seeks to strengthen technical and regulatory capacities in developing countries, without abandoning fundamental principles.

“UNESCO is the United Nations agency for issues of access to public information, freedom of expression, safety of journalists, etc. We have told our 194 member states that we are open to technical cooperation, training of personnel and regulators, and discussion of governance of the digital ecosystem, always with one non-negotiable principle: the protection of freedom of expression and access to public information cannot be compromised,” Canela stated.

According to him, the fund created by the global initiative prioritizes actors from the Global South, due to the lack of funding for research and investigative journalism on the subject. “We have already announced the first ten beneficiaries, all from the Global South, developing projects in the region. This is one of the fund’s priorities,” he added.

The Belém Declaration highlights that the climate crisis demands not only political action, but also the mobilization of the entire society, based on consistent, reliable information grounded in scientific evidence. It also acknowledges the risks that misinformation, denialism, and attacks on journalists and scientists pose to the advancement of environmental policies.

Canela emphasized the importance of the topic being elevated to one of the central pillars of COP 30. “This is the first COP in history where information integrity is one of the guiding principles of the negotiations. This issue will not disappear with this COP. It is important that this is not the first and the last in which this topic has been placed as an important pillar,” he highlighted.