The one-year countdown to the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) begins this Sunday (10), which will take place in Belém between November 10 and 21 of next year, 2025. With 365 days to go until the event that will bring together thousands of politicians, activists and experts to discuss how to slow down global warming, the capital of Pará is following an intense schedule to get ready to host an event of this magnitude - while negotiations are underway so that the first COP to be hosted in Brazil and the Amazon can, in fact, consider and enhance local voices and demands in the debates.
Concerning the infrastructure, Belém has received numerous constructions and a large volume of resources. According to the state government, R$4 billion is being invested in state projects: R$1.3 billion from state treasury funds, R$700 million in investments from Itaipu Binacional and R$2 billion in financing from the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) [National Bank for Economic and Social Development].
On the other hand, the municipal projects, considering all their stages, total around R$1 billion, with financing from Itaipu Binacional, the federal government, the Fundo Financeiro para Desenvolvimento da Bacia do Prata (Fonplata) [Financial Fund for the Development of the Prata Basin] and the Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento (BID) [Inter-American Development Bank], in addition to resources from the city of Belém itself.
STATE CONSTRUCTIONS
The state government has approved around 30 projects in preparation for COP 30 in areas such as sanitation, mobility and urban development. The state executive highlights the Parque da Cidade [Park of the City], the venue that will host the event; Porto Futuro II, which will house a new tourist, cultural and bioeconomy-focused space; Doca de Souza Franco and Tamandaré avenues, which will gain linear parks and new drainage treatments for their canals; and the expansion of Rua da Marinha.
The Pará government also announced several other work fronts related to COP 30, aiming to change the capital's landscape and make it suitable for hosting a large-scale event, with improvements in urban mobility and reduction of flooding. The list includes the macro-drainage of Belém canals - such as those in the Tucunduba and Murutucu basins - and the paving of several streets, in addition to the construction of three viaducts in Ananindeua, with positive impacts on traffic in the metropolitan region, and the dredging of the port of Belém and the construction of the new Terminal Internacional de Cruzeiros [International Cruise Terminal], which will allow transatlantic ships to anchor in the city and be used as floating hotels during the event.
According to the government of Pará, all the works aim not only to provide better conditions for holding the conference, but also to leave important milestones in infrastructure, development and opportunities for the local population.
MUNICIPAL CONSTRUCTIONS
The city government of Belém lists eight interventions that should also become legacies for the city: the revitalization of the Ver-o-Peso Complex; the requalification of the São Brás Market; the construction of the Igarapé São Joaquim Urban Park; the modernization of Júlio César Avenue; the Macrodrainage Program for the Igarapé Mata Fome River Basin; the widening of Bernardo Sayão Avenue; the implementation of the Innovation and Bioeconomy District; and the implementation of Recycling Recovery Units (UVRs).
According to the Secretary of Planning and Management of Belém and president of the COP 30 Municipal Committee, João Cláudio Arroyo, in line with climate discussions, the projects include sustainability criteria. “We have a technological distortion in our city, which is using cement and rebar. So, we seek to adapt our works to the urban flow, which involves considering the biome. The constructions at São Joaquim and Mata Fome will restore the stilt houses, adapting them to the environment and also rescuing the Amazonian identity”, explains the manager.
DEADLINES
Some of the state and municipal projects are expected to be fully ready by the time the event is held. Others will only have parts of the structures completed.
This is the case of Parque da Cidade, which will be the venue for the conference discussions, but which should be 60% completed by November 2025, with a subsequent phase scheduled for completion in 2027. Likewise, the first part of Porto Futuro II will be completed in October 2025 - the completion of the second phase is only scheduled for mid-2026.
The municipal projects also include pre-COP and post-COP stages, such as the modernization of Júlio César Avenue and the construction of the Igarapé São Joaquim Urban Park. The São Brás Market should be delivered by February 2025, while the various stages of the Ver-o-Peso works will be delivered gradually, from the end of this year until October 2025. In addition, the Innovation and Bioeconomy District should be ready by August next year.
Researcher claims for new urban solutions
Roberta Rodrigues, director of the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), is one of the researchers on a team that includes several areas of knowledge and came together to research the urban transformations that have taken place as a result of the climate conference. She explains that this type of research usually takes place in cities that host major events, such as the World Cup or the Olympics.
According to the professor, it is necessary to differentiate between the works that are effectively related to the COP and other interventions. “There are works that are not specifically necessary for the event. So, to what extent are the decisions regarding major road works, such as the extension of Rua da Marinha or even Avenida Liberdade [which will connect Avenida Perimetral to Alça Viária] related to the COP?”, ponders the professional.
According to the researcher, it is necessary to reflect on how this set of projects will mean improvements for the city and how this effectively relates to the level that Belém wants to reach in order to become a greener metropolis. “If we are trying to insert ourselves, in a way, as protagonists in the debate on the sustainability of cities and their relationship with our way of life, do large investments in highways aimed at private cars make sense? Because the projects I mentioned are not for buses. It is contradictory. With these projects, we are deepening the model that we are criticizing, which the entire discussion focused on the climate crisis is saying it is no longer viable”, analyzes the specialist.
SUSTAINABILITY
For the professor, the opportunity offered by the COP, with the volume of resources received, is a moment to think about new urban solutions, towards other sustainability standards. “With all this money, it could be a turning point in how we are producing the city. But the options that are being made are not in that direction. The interventions partially address the problems of the capital and end up being the so-called exceptional urbanism, which is carried out urgently, due to deadline demands, which ends up making the works more expensive”.
But the researcher also highlights positive aspects of the conference held in Belém. “The projects that had already been planned for a longer time, before the COP was announced, such as Parque da Cidade and Porto Futuro II, are more related to the city’s demands, with more mature discussions and that have now become more financially viable. The Park, for example, is a great success. Imagine what it would be like to hold the COP without this available space?”
Beyond the constructions
In addition to preparations in terms of infrastructure, how are the city and the agents involved in the climate discussions organizing themselves for the debates that will take place during the event? Secretary João Cláudio Arroyo says that the city hopes to contribute to discussions on a new development model for the region, which will allow not only activities compatible with the biome but also the opportunity to internalize its wealth. “I am part of the Amazon Protagonism Forum. There, we discussed that we need to build this new development model from the bottom up. Because no Amazonian has ever participated in decisions for the Amazon.”
For the state government, the conference is an opportunity for Brazil and Pará to be protagonists in global discussions on the environment and sustainability. “Bringing the climate debate to the state will allow representatives from 190 countries to have an immersive experience about the Amazon and, from there, they can also build agreements to preserve this biome,” the state executive emphasizes in a statement.
Negotiations start much earlier, explains activist
Environmentalist Gabriela Savian, deputy director of public policies at the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Ipam) [Amazon Environmental Research Institut], believes that both COP 29, which begins this Monday (11) in Baku, Azerbaijan, and COP 30, in Belém, are promising. “At COP 29, we will have discussions on climate financing and updating countries’ NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions). Next year, the strategies for implementing these NDCs will be debated. We have been following these discussions over time, participating in almost all COPs since 1992, and we believe that there has been significant progress in the agreements,” says the activist.
Regarding the lack of social participation in decision-making bodies during COPs - agreements are decided only by the leaders of the participating countries - Gabriela Savian explains that negotiations take place beforehand and help define the strategies that will be presented at the conference. “There is a path to get there at COP 30 and for these decisions to be made. They don't just happen at that moment: they happen throughout the year and are already happening now,” she explains.
The COP das Baixadas gathers organizations that want to be heard
The population of the outskirts of Belém also wants to have their demands heard during the Amazon COP. Organized around an initiative called the COP das Baixadas, made up of 15 civil society organizations, the outskirts populations of Belém claim that they are the most impacted by climate change, but are often excluded from global discussions.
Waleska Queiroz, a representative of the movement, states that the Climate Conferences are not designed with the population in mind. “That is why we are very concerned about how we will influence COP 30. We intend to make the demands of the outskirts heard through partnerships with national and international organizations that have seats in decision-making spaces, in addition to public campaigns that increase the visibility of local issues,” highlights the activist.
YELLOW ZONES
COPs are usually divided into two areas: the Blue Zone, where official negotiations take place; and the Green Zone, where unofficial parallel events take place, where NGOs, companies and academic institutions can speak out but not make decisions.
The COP das Baixadas proposes Yellow Zones to be created at COP 30. “These are zones that highlight peripheral territories as centers of culture, science, solutions and resistance. They reinforce that these territories are essential for climate adaptation and resilience and priority areas for investment. This aims not only to make visible the solutions that are already emerging from the peripheries, but also to consolidate these territories as centers of innovation and resistance in the face of the climate crisis,” proposes Waleska Queiroz, offering a new possible perspective on discussions about the future of the planet.
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The production of Liberal Amazon is one of the initiatives of the Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Liberal Group and the Federal University of Pará. The articles involving research from UFPA are revised by professionals from the academy. The translation of the content is also provided by the agreement, through the research project ET-Multi: Translation Studies: multifaces and multisemiotics.
