“Belém is a bumpy city in the Brazilian, hot, dotted Brazilian Amazon with a few hotel beds.” This is how a report published by the British magazine The Economist On Wednesday, 9, it defines the capital of Pará, which in November will host COP30. The publication also states that this year’s UN climate summit “will certainly be chaotic.”
The main criticisms of The Economist They are in relation to Belém’s difficulties to accommodate climate negotiators that will land in Pará in November. The magazine points out that the city of 1.3 million inhabitants has sufficient hotel beds to only 18,000 visitors. Another 5,000 tourists are expected to stay on cruise ships that will be anchored in a near port. “Public schools and military barracks are being equipped with air conditioning and bunk beds to become ‘hostels’. What are usually ‘motels of love’ will also be an option,” he wrote.
A The Economist It also points out some of the works being done in Belém as part of the preparations for COP30. “A 13 km stretch of untouched forest was overthrown to give way to a highway to relieve entry traffic. Some infrastructure projects demanded dredging and filling rivers and sewage channels with concrete.”
In an interview with the publication, Adler Silveira, Pará’s Secretary of Infrastructure, states that the reforms for the preparation for the crisis will leave a positive legacy.
Finally, the text says that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Helder Barbalho, governor of Pará, have tried to create alternatives to agriculture and mining in the region. “Both promoted the development of a carbon credit market, attracted investments in clean energy and promoted the potential of“ bioeconomics ”, in which tropical forest products are used to produce materials and energy.”
