COP 30
Climate summit madness in the Brazilian city of Belém.
This news story has haunted my mind since it hit the headlines last week.
Extensive areas of the Amazon rainforest have been cleared to make way for a road to transport the 50,000 delegates expected to attend this year’s UN climate conference, COP30, in Brazil. The eight-mile, four-lane highway is being constructed on the outskirts of Belém, an Amazonian city in northern Brazil, which will host the event in November. The construction of the highway was initially proposed by the state government of Pará over a decade ago but was delayed due to concerns regarding its environmental impact. Work finally began last June.
The Amazon rainforest is credited with absorbing vast quantities of carbon. It is celebrated as one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, home to a wide variety of species, including a significant proportion of the planet's known plants and animals. The construction of the highway has sparked accusations of hypocrisy for a global summit intended to save the environment, cut emissions, and preserve biodiversity.
Brazil's federal government is investing over $81 million (£62 million) to expand the airport's capacity from "7 to 14 million passengers." A new 500,000 square metre city park, Parque da Cidade, is currently under construction. It will feature green spaces, restaurants, a sports complex, and additional facilities for the public to use after the summit.
Tens of thousands of acres of rainforest have been cleared to make way for the road, which aims to reduce congestion in the city. A section of the highway will traverse a protected area, home to around 800 species of plants and fungi.
The road leaves two disconnected areas of protected forest. Locals have said the new highway is destroying their livelihoods. Scientists are concerned that it will fragment the ecosystem and disrupt wildlife movement.
Professor Silvia Sardinha is a wildlife vet and researcher at a university animal hospital that overlooks the site of the new highway. She and her team rehabilitate injured wild animals, predominantly due to human activity or vehicles. Once they have healed, they release the animals back into the wild—something she asserts will be more challenging if a highway is situated right on their doorstep.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, states that the meeting will offer an opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, showcase the forest to the world, and present what the federal government has accomplished to protect it.
However, Prof. Sardinha asserts that while these discussions will occur "at a very high level, among business people and government officials", those living in the Amazon are "not being heard".
Once again, money speaking louder than words; climate action, too, it would seem!
About COP
The COP is an annual event regarded as one of the most significant occurrences in the sustainability sector. Its purpose is to tackle climate change and its effects on communities around the globe.
The Paris Agreement, adopted at COP21 in 2015, is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COPs (Conferences of the Parties), is an annual summit at which world leaders assess global efforts to advance the Paris Agreement's goals.
Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the USA from the Paris agreement.
“Net Zero" refers to achieving a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and removals by the end of the century, a key goal discussed and pursued at these conferences.
Annie,
some realities:-
The Conference of Parties may originally have been about CO2 and global warming but now it is a hugely bloated affair, conducted annually and the main purpose is to negotiate money, given by the West to developing countries. They ask for alot, get pledged some although the pledges do not generally actually happen.
The Paris accord is not legally binding, it is a voluntary agreement, only the U.K. has been stupid enough to put it into British law. Countries produce forecasts and actions but few meet them. Some do not even try.
At Cop 29 few world leaders attended, sending 'deputies' instead.
Yes, Mr Trump has withdrawn, again. Perhaps this time he will make it permanent. Better still if he stops American funding of the United Nations.
Discussed maybe but China and India have a priority of economic growth and have said so.
Net Zero is a flawed concept and should be abandoned as soon as posible.
It is said the U.K. contributes but 1 % of global emissions, but that is far from the truth.
As anthropogenic CO2 emissions are only 5% of total global CO2 emissions (95% is natural), our contribution is around 0.05%.