COP30 climate summit preparations wipe out protected rainforest

Large swaths of once-protected Amazonian rainforest have been slashed to make way for attendees of the COP30 climate summit this month.

Large swaths of once-protected Amazonian rainforest have been slashed to make way for attendees of the COP30 climate summit this month, as the city of Belém, Brazil, prepared for more than 50,000 people.

Tens of thousands of acres of rainforest and wetlands were destroyed to construct a “sustainable” four-lane highway earlier this year for the climate summit, which began on Thursday.

While Prime Minister Mark Carney won’t be attending the summit, a Canadian delegation led by Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin and Canadian Identity Minister Steven Guilbeault will be present.

Many locals live within 200 metres of where the highway now lies, with harvesters of açaí berries now out of work as the trees which produced them have since been bulldozed.

“Everything was destroyed,” Claudio Verequete, a local of the area, told the BBC in an interview earlier this year. “Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family.”

Heavy excavation equipment also paved over countless acres of wetland to construct the road, which erected large concrete walls on either side, preventing the community from accessing it.

According to Verequete, no government compensation was provided to those who lost their source of income.

Additionally, he fears that the newly constructed highway will only lead to more deforestation, now that the area has become easily accessible for businesses.

“Our fear is that one day someone will come here and say: ‘Here’s some money. We need this area to build a gas station, or to build a warehouse.’ And then we’ll have to leave,” he said.

“We were born and raised here in the community. Where are we going to go? For us who live on the side of the highway, there will be no benefits. There will be benefits for the trucks that will pass through. If someone gets sick and needs to go to the centre of Belém, we won’t be able to use it.”