Brazil, which presents itself as a defender of developing countries, invited authorities around the world to the Amazon rainforest to show solutions to the global climate crisis.
Now, eight weeks from the beginning of negotiations, the country faces diplomatic impasse.
The largest polluter in history, the United States, should be left out. The billions of dollars needed for poor countries to face climate disasters have not left the paper. Activists accuse Brazil of hypocrisy for authorizing more oil exploration.
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And the pressure is increased by a review of the climatic diplomacy system established by the Paris Agreement ten years ago, given the slowness of the most emitting countries in reducing greenhouse gases to avoid irreversible damage to the planet.
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In the midst of this, Brazil failed to solve a basic problem that threatens negotiations: the lack of accessible accommodation in Belém, host city of the conference. Two thirds of countries have not yet reserved rooms.
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“We have not been able to discuss vital issues for our survival if we couldn’t even get there,” said Ilana Seid, a Diplomat of Palau, the island country of the peaceful threatened by raising sea level. “It’s hard to see how we can fully represent ourselves.”
According to the leader of a group of African diplomats, Brazilian authorities suggested that some delegates share rooms. The proposal was rejected.
The Brazilian diplomat responsible for negotiations, André Corrêa do Lago, called the episode “misunderstanding” and said the government has made 53,000 rooms available, more than the 50,000 expected participants, including options between $ 100 and $ 200 for poorer countries and islands like Palau.
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“We have already reserved the rooms to ensure that all countries are in Belém at affordable prices,” he said in a telephone interview on Monday.
The hosting dispute reinforces the confidence deficit that surrounds international climate diplomacy at a time when disasters affect the poor countries more strongly. It occurs while the United States not only abandoned the Paris agreement, but expanding oil and gas production.
“The circumstances are not ideal,” said Corrêa do Lago. “The geopolitical context is very difficult.”
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In a letter sent to delegates in mid -August, he recognized logistical difficulties and called for “creativity in search of new solutions to new challenges.”
The government reported that it has secured hotel rooms, two cruise ships and “regulated private properties”, as well as studying the adaptation of schools such as accommodation. On Friday, Corrêa do Lago said Brazil asked for banks and philanthropic entities support to help cost delegations, which fired with high demand.
In Belém, hosts before cheap costs $ 600 a night. , and Brazil said it has reserved options from $ 100 to poorer countries, with a limit of 15 bedrooms per delegation. The government has also announced a task force to curb “abusive hosting practices”.
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Annual climate negotiations follow as the main global forum on the subject, especially for small or poor countries, which rarely have an equal voice in diplomatic instances.
“It takes a space for all countries and ideally all the actors involved, who are many, can gather and seek solutions,” said Jennifer Morgan, a former climatic climate of Germany and former president of Greenpeace Internacional. “But they could be more efficient.”
There are, in fact, increasing appeals to make the schedule more focused.
The number of participants has grown over the years, ranging from 40,000 to over 80,000, attracting both oil and environmental activists.
The goal is to reach consensus to reduce emissions and contain global warming, preferably limiting the rise of temperature to 1.5 ° C compared to the pre-industrial period. But any decision requires unanimity, and oil producing countries often block more ambitious proposals.
Moreover, even if all the promises made so far were fulfilled, they would still be insufficient to avoid catastrophic increase in temperature.
Belém, near the Atlantic coast, stood out in the colonial period for the sugar trade and, later, for the rubber cycle. Today, with just over 1 million inhabitants, it is the capital of Pará, one of the poorest states of the country. The city receives few international flights and has no resorts or large convention centers.
For President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, however, Belém was chosen to symbolize the importance of the Amazon rainforest in the carbon absorption of the atmosphere. Brazil has reduced deforestation under its management and seeks to attract investments to a preservation fund.
Still, two months from the conference, many delegations continue to try to ensure accessible hosting. The difficulty threatens the whole meeting. Instead of preparing their positions, negotiators call brokers looking for apartments or beds with beds. “Everything has been astronomically expensive,” said Seid.
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