BRAZILIAN HYPOCRISY BEHIND COP30
In 2025, Brazil will host one of the world's biggest environmental events: the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), which will be held in Belém, in Pará. By hosting the event, Brazil is trying to consolidate its leadership role in the climate agenda and is reinforcing this by choosing an Amazonian capital as its host city.
In addition to COP30, by hosting the event, Belém intends to emerge as a city of national and international tourist interest. To this end, it is taking advantage of the event to boost the city's infrastructure, carrying out “the biggest public intervention the capital of Pará has seen in the last two decades”¹, with dozens of works that alter the capital's landscape.
But what may seem like a dream to some has become a nightmare for local residents. One local resident, who did not want to be identified, said: “I was excited about this COP, but the governor here is going to build on two Conservation Units to host the event”. The resident is referring to the construction of Avenida Liberdade, an infrastructure project whose construction will impact the Belém Metropolitan Environmental Protection Area; the Utinga State Park; the Engenho do Murucutu Archaeological Site; the Federal Rural University of Amazonia and its Professor Rubens Lima Building, listed in 2002 by the Belém Historical Heritage Service, as well as the quilombola community of Abacatal, in Ananindeua². The avenue will also cross three watercourses in the region: the Murucutu river, the Aurá river and the Pau Grande stream².
For some readers, especially international ones, the hypocrisy hidden in the government's actions in the name of COP-30 may not be so obvious: the infrastructure to host an event on climate change is advancing on forest areas intended for conserving biodiversity and socio-biodiversity. These areas are home to conservation projects for endangered species of Brazilian fauna, such as the Ararajubas (Guaruba guarouba) Reintroduction and Monitoring Project in Utinga State Park. The species in question is classified as “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to Federal Law No. 9.985/2000, which regulates the National System of Nature Conservation Units and establishes Environmental Protection Areas and State Parks with different protection regimes as Conservation Units, the Conservation Units covered by the work must have a Management Plan, containing their zoning and restricted activities, to regulate any activity and use in their territory. However, these documents are not available for public consultation - as they should be - which implies a lack of transparency regarding the regularity of the activities carried out there.
Similarly, when you search for an extract of the environmental license, either on search engines or on the platforms managed by the state government (responsible for the work), there is no information about the license for the construction of Avenida Liberdade. The lack of transparency raises doubts about the existence of the necessary licensing, its conduct, and its rigor 5.
Corroborating the lack of transparency mentioned above are the social issues involved in the construction of Avenida Liberdade. The Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 provides for the right to land and the preservation of the cultural identity of quilombola communities, and Article 68 of the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act and Decree No. 4.887/2003 regulate the right of quilombolas to own the land they occupy. When they are assigned Conservation Units, such as Environmental Protection Areas and State Parks, current legislation provides for the right of communities to participate in the management of these areas. The right to participatory management is also guaranteed by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, which stipulates that quilombolas must be consulted in advance during the environmental licensing of projects that will impact their territory and way of life.
Despite stating in its official press release that the licensing stages, including the public hearing with the quilombolas, have been complied with³,4, there are reports that the prior consultation with quilombola communities, provided for in ILO Convention No. 169, has not been complied with, which means that the news of the project was received with surprise by the traditional community, which will be directly and indirectly impacted 6.
In 2021, before the construction permit was signed, a manifesto was organized against Avenida Liberdade, which gathered 1,800 signatures from civil society actors. The manifesto was ignored by the government under the narrative that “the project is by the environmental studies carried out”, but it disregards all the social weight that a project of this size has.
Not even public higher education institutions have been left out of the impacts. The Federal Rural University of Amazonia, in an official note published in June 2024 and signed by its rector 7, informed that it had presented considerations and restrictions on the development of the project within its boundaries; however, there was no dialog about the considerations and the concession for the works was granted. On the same note, the rector reinforces that she is working with those responsible to ensure that the impacts are minimal.
The question that remains in light of this information is: if there is no dialogue and no participation by a federal university - which has recognized its importance on the Brazilian scene - when it comes to the work desired by the governor, did the traditional community, marginalized by society to the detriment of all its importance, really have a voice in this process? In other words, were the prerogatives and rights of these communities respected?
Socio-environmental concerns are not restricted exclusively to the construction of Avenida Liberdade, although this is the most visible: local traders have had to leave their places of business to revitalize spaces that will be attractive during the event, affecting their income and that of their families.
“It's important to point out that most of the works are good, they're going to make a linear park, an ecological park... but two interventions have broken me: Avenida Liberdade and the duplication and continuation of Rua da Marinha, which will affect the Gunnar Vingren Municipal Ecological Park,” shared one resident. “The Rua da Marinha forest is home to an endangered species of toucan, the black-billed toucan.” - continued - “There is talk among the population that the interventions are necessary because Belém's traffic is chaotic, but the construction of the BRT [bus rapid transit ] and the planning of good public transportation don't seem to be public policy alternatives. All they think about is building roads.
While the national and international community looks to COP30 with great expectations and hopes for global agreements that can minimize the impacts of climate change, the representatives of the people most affected by the changes are being ignored and passed over in the name of infrastructure “for the conference itself”. The traces left by COP30 in Belém will be much larger than international agreements: they will also mark the disregard for biodiversity and the society of Pará.
SDGs 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16
Ana Letícia R. Ferro
Forest Engineer (FCA/UNESP-Botucatu)
4https://dol.com.br/noticias/para/850414/avenida-liberdade-tera-edital-para-obras-no-mes-de-marco?d=1
5https://www.portalolavodutra.com.br/impressao/governo_do_para_lanca_obras_da_avenida_liberdade_sem_licenciamento_ambiental_e_pressiona_comunidades
7https://novo.ufra.edu.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3723:nota-oficial-sobre-a-construcao-da-rodovia-liberdade-pa-020&catid=85&Itemid=553
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