UN Climate Conference | A COP for Amazon Tourism

It was President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva who had the idea of ​​bringing the 30th UN Climate Change Conference to Belém in the Amazon Delta. He and his government want to present themselves as exemplary climate and tropical forest protectors. The decision to establish a new fund for forest protection at COP 30 is intended to underscore this.

No expense was spared for the mega-event: around 800 million euros were invested to "make the city fit" for the summit, as the official statement puts it. A large portion of the funds went towards doubling the capacity of the city's airport, which can now handle around 13 million passengers per year. In addition, a new four-lane highway, built through rainforest and local communities and including bike lanes, will provide convenient transport for the expected 50,000 COP 30 attendees to the event venues. Belém's port received a terminal specifically designed for giant cruise ships. "These projects will strengthen tourism, create jobs and income, and leave behind an infrastructure legacy that will bring tangible benefits to the people of Pará far beyond COP 30," promises Tourism Minister Celso Sabino.

These large-scale construction projects can hardly be described as climate or rainforest protection measures. The Lula government's insistence on expanding Brazilian oil production is also a cause for concern during the COP 30 negotiations. Just a few days ago, the environmental agency Ibama authorized exploratory drilling by the partially state-owned company Petrobras in the ecologically rich yet fragile Amazon estuary. This came as a shock to those affected: "This exploitative project is moving forward without regard for the voices, rights, and very existence of the indigenous peoples who are the true guardians and defenders of the Amazon rainforest," declared the Association of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon. "While the Brazilian government demands more serious climate commitments from other countries, it is itself investing in the exploration of fossil fuels on its territory – one of the main causes of the climate crisis plaguing the world."

The Brazilian Amazon experienced its greatest forest loss in 2024 since the record high in 2016 under Jair Bolsonaro.

And what about Lula's rainforest protection record? At the end of October, the government reported a decline in deforestation in the Amazon. According to satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), between August 2024 and July 2025, "only" 5,796 square kilometers, roughly 811 football fields, of forest were cleared. This represents a decrease of eleven percent compared to the previous year and was the lowest deforestation rate since 2014, according to the government statement. Similar figures were reported from the Cerrado region, the humid savanna in the southeast of the country: "These figures confirm the downward trend that began in 2023 after five years of continuous increase."

But this is only half the story. The official statistics don't include deforestation caused by fires. In the Amazon, 179,000 square kilometers of forest and pastureland went up in smoke and ash last year, 58 percent more than the previous year. The fact that matches are sometimes replacing chainsaws also applies to the Cerrado. Data provider MapBiomas recorded "an increase of 47 percent compared to the average of the past six years" there.

Unlike Lula's government officials, the renowned World Resources Institute includes clear-cutting and slash-and-burn agriculture in its annual forest loss calculations. According to these calculations, the Brazilian Amazon experienced its greatest forest loss in 2024 since the record high in 2016, during the presidency of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. 28,200 square kilometers of primary rainforest were lost, approximately 110 percent more than in 2023.

Furthermore, forest degradation is increasing. Damaged forests, for example through selective logging, fragmentation, and logging roads, have a thinner canopy, are more susceptible to drought, and are therefore more easily burned. According to data from the Amazon Institute for Humans and the Environment, 2024 saw an explosive increase in degradation in the Amazon region, reaching a new high since records began in 2009: 36,400 square kilometers of rainforest were degraded.

Despite all these negative signs, Philip Martin Fearnside of the National Amazon Research Institute in Manaus is hoping for a successful COP 30. The Brazilian rainforest researcher is counting on "countries, including Brazil, agreeing to rapidly halt the use of fossil fuels and restrict their extraction, including refraining from developing new oil and gas fields." Speaking to the newspaper "nd," Fearnside said: "Countries that cause emissions through deforestation and forest degradation, including Brazil, must commit to eliminating these emissions. This requires not only addressing the symptoms, as Brazil is currently doing with inspections and fines, but also, and more importantly, eliminating the underlying causes of deforestation, which Brazil is clearly not yet doing."