The large Guamá River and forty-two metropolitan islands frame the city of Belém, which is known as the gateway to the Amazon rainforest. Belém is shaped by the diversity of its indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures, as well as by the daily challenges posed by climate change, including severe flooding and extreme heat.
Ten years after the Paris Climate Agreement, in which country leaders pledged to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) was held here for the first time this month. Amid geopolitical turmoil, COP30 aimed to highlight the connection between natural wealth and climate vulnerability.
The conference sought to encourage the international community to prevent the alarming warming of the planet by up to 3 degrees Celsius by 2050, as calculated by scientists, while also supporting developing countries in adapting to the devastating consequences and losses they are already facing. With the Trump administration not sending a delegation to COP30, it fell to others to shoulder responsibility for the climate crisis.
With over 56,000 delegates attending over the course of two weeks, COP30 in Belém was one of the largest COPs in history. As the “COP of truth,” it was also intended to counter fake news and climate change denial among the global right, led by US president Donald Trump. Given the absence of the United States, the decline in commitments, and the limited participation of civil society in negotiations in Baku, Dubai, and Sharm El Sheikh in recent years, the host country, Brazil, was under significant pressure.
Amid geopolitical turmoil, COP30 aimed to highlight the connection between natural wealth and climate vulnerability.
At the same time, international and national media reports complaining about location and accommodation prices in the buildup revealed prejudice against the poor region. In fact, COP30 began remarkably well-prepared, demonstrating Brazil’s exceptional diplomatic…
Auteur: Claudia Horn
