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Amazon’s First-Ever COP Puts Rainforest Front and Center
The spotlight shines on Brazil’s Amazon this November as the United Nations has chosen Brazil to host the international climate meeting, COP30, in the Amazonian city of Belém do Pará in 2025. This marks something truly remarkable – the first time that a meeting of this magnitude on climate change will take place in Brazil. President Lula’s reasoning hits the mark perfectly: “I’ve participated in COPs in Egypt, Paris, Copenhagen and all people talk about is the Amazon. So why not have the COP in the Amazon so [people] can get to know the Amazon, see its rivers, its forests, its fauna,”. It’s about time the world’s most talked-about ecosystem gets to host the conversation, wouldn’t you say?
Belém do Pará is a northern Brazilian city located in the fringes of the Amazon forest. It’s the capital city of the state of Pará located on the coast of the Amazon river estuary. The timing couldn’t be more crucial with the climate crisis reaching new heights every year.
The Staggering Scale of What’s at Stake
The numbers alone should make your jaw drop. Covering 6.5 million km², the Amazon is home to 13% of known species on the planet, 20% of the world’s surface freshwater and about 47 million people, including over 400 Indigenous groups. But here’s what really matters for our planet’s future: Essential for global climate balance, the Amazon stores between 150 and 200 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 15-20 years of global CO₂ emissions. Think about that – two decades worth of the entire world’s carbon emissions locked away in those trees.
Yet the situation has become critically urgent. Over 17% of the forest in Brazilian territory has already been deforested, and 31% is degraded. The loss of just 5% more could push the forest past a tipping point, irreversibly transforming it into a savanna. Scientists warn that losing 50-70% of the world’s largest tropical forest would release 300 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, making it impossible to meet the Paris Agreement target. That’s a climate disaster we simply cannot afford.
Record-Breaking Deforestation Threatens COP30 Credibility
The timing couldn’t be more awkward for Brazil. Recent data shows deforestation reached 960 square kilometres (around 370 square miles) in May, a 92% increase compared with the same month in 2024. Brazil’s space agency, INPE, had already indicated in April that alerts of forest loss had risen by 55% in 2025, suggesting that a big-scale upward trend could be in progress. This creates a deeply uncomfortable reality – this dramatic increase in forest loss presents a major challenge for Brazil’s government, which aims to lead conservation talks, ahead of COP30, in November.
The government is scrambling to respond. In early June, President Lula announced 825.7 million reais ($150 million) from the Amazon Fund to boost enforcement. It’s the largest-ever financial aid through the fund, a conservation initiative established in 2008 with donations from countries such as Norway, Germany and the U.S. Yet the clock is ticking, with annual data set to be published close to the COP’s kickoff, putting officials on edge.
The Highway Controversy That Won’t Go Away
Perhaps nothing captures the contradictions surrounding COP30 quite like the Avenida Liberdade highway project. Brazil is building a four-lane highway in the Amazon rainforest, a construction that started years ago before the country was selected as the official host country for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). The highway, which will cut through tens of thousands of acres of protected rainforest, will be used to accommodate over 50,000 COP30 attendees, including world leaders and policymakers, in Belém. The irony is almost too obvious to ignore.
The BBC reports that preparations for the highway have already deforested some of the protected rainforest. It has been shelved for environmental concerns in the past but has since been listed as one of 30 projects Belém is undertaking to prepare for the COP30 summit. Local communities are bearing the cost – Local Claudio Verequete, who used to work by harvesting açaí berries from trees there, told the BBC: “Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family.”
Infrastructure Challenges in a Million-Person City
Belém faces massive logistical hurdles that seem almost impossible to overcome. Officials have expressed concerns over whether the city of 1.3 million people is capable of hosting tens of thousands of delegates flocking in over two weeks. The accommodation situation alone is staggering – currently, Belém’s hotel network has just over 25,000 beds available, far short of the 70,000 visitors expected for COP30. That’s a shortage of nearly forty-five thousand beds for one of the world’s most important climate gatherings.
The government’s creative solutions border on desperate. The Brazilian government has announced a plan to supply 26,000 new beds by utilising river cruise boats, rental apartments and even military facilities and schools. Additionally, at the start of July, Belém’s environmental department authorized dredging of Guajará Bay, where the Guamá and Acará rivers empty out into the Atlantic, to make space for large ships and ocean liners to dock in the capital and serve as hotels. It’s a logistical puzzle that would challenge any major city, let alone one in the heart of the Amazon.
A New Era of Climate Diplomacy Takes Shape
Brazil’s COP30 president André Aranha Corrêa Do Lago is pushing for fundamental changes in how climate summits operate. Global climate diplomacy must shift focus from highly “politicised” negotiations to advancing real collective action on the ground to remain credible. In a long letter setting out his vision, André Aranha Corrêa Do Lago, president-designate for this year’s UN climate summit in the Amazon city of Belém, called for a “new era” in which “words and texts” agreed by countries bring about economic and social transformation. His approach recognizes that endless talking without action has become the climate movement’s biggest weakness.
The seasoned diplomat set out his belief that it is necessary to find solutions beyond the multilateral climate regime and “create levers” in other institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, while working more closely with regional governments, civil society and the private sector. It’s a pragmatic acknowledgment that real change requires more than just government promises.
The Billion-Dollar Forest Fund Revolution
Brazil is betting big on a game-changing financial mechanism. Brazil plans to launch an ambitious $125 billion fund to protect tropical forests when it hosts the COP30 climate summit this November. The investment vehicle is part of a broad strategy to turn the talks into action after a US withdrawal from climate diplomacy threatens to slow progress. The Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) represents something completely different from traditional conservation funding.
The Tropical Forests Forever Fund is an innovative mechanism designed to generate approximately US$ 4 billion annually to be distributed among more than 70 tropical forest countries. Eligible countries would only receive funds proportional to the area preserved after demonstrating, via satellite images, that they had deforestation below 0.5%. It functions as a revenue-generating investment fund rather than a grant-based mechanism; it provides payments for results rather than project financing; it rewards standing forests rather than compensating for avoided deforestation. This isn’t charity – it’s investment in our planet’s future.
Global Leaders Reshape the Summit Schedule
In an unprecedented move that shows just how challenging the logistics have become, COP30 host Brazil has announced that world leaders will deliver their speeches on climate action several days before UN negotiations officially kick off on November 10. Leaders will convene in Belém on November 6 and 7, before the November 10-21 talks. With the announcement of the early scheduling of the COP30 Summit in Belém, Pará, the Brazilian government aims to improve organization and foster deeper reflection on climate change, strengthening the Paris Agreement and international cooperation.
This scheduling change isn’t just about logistics – it’s strategic. For the past decade – since COP21 which adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015 – most heads of state and government have attended and spoken during the first two or three days of the UN climate conference. By separating the political theater from the actual negotiations, Brazil hopes to create space for more substantive discussions.
Indigenous Communities Fight for Their Voice
One of the most significant aspects of hosting COP30 in the Amazon is the opportunity to elevate Indigenous voices in climate discussions. A key feature of the initiative is its commitment to ensuring at least 20% participation from Indigenous and Local Communities. Intending to raise $125 billion, the TFFF is actively developing a consultation process with IPLC organizations to ensure their meaningful involvement. Yet there’s a troubling contradiction – the Brazilian Government has framed COP30 as an opportunity to showcase the Amazon and its pivotal role in global climate discussions. Yet, the voices of those living in the Amazon are conspicuously absent from this narrative.
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is also the largest and most vulnerable deforestation front. WWF estimates that 20 percent of its biome has been lost already, and that 27 percent will be without trees by 2030 if the current rate of forest loss continues. For these communities, the forest is the home that sustains all life.
International Momentum Builds Despite Skepticism
The international response to Brazil’s initiatives has been surprisingly positive. Countries that could be supporters of the TFFF – such as the United Kingdom, Norway and the United Arab Emirates—and tropical forest nations potentially eligible to receive payments for conserved areas—such as Colombia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Ghana—publicly expressed interest in and support for the initiative. Even the private sector is getting involved – the TFFF also attracted strong backing from the private sector — including PIMCO, one of the world’s largest bond investment managers; Bank of America; and Barclays.
UK Secretary of State Ed Miliband didn’t hold back his enthusiasm: “That’s why the emergence of Brasil’s brilliant proposal, the Tropical Forests Forever Fund, is so exciting. We see it as a bold, inspiring, and deeply promising solution, and we are proud to work alongside the Brazilian government. This fund offers an opportunity for the Global North and South to unite as a coalition of the hopeful and the determined in a world full of uncertainty.”
The Reality Check on Climate Financing
The financial mathematics behind climate action remain daunting. Brazil will work together with COP29 host Azerbaijan on a “roadmap” to scale up climate finance to developing countries from all public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035. Countries agreed to that headline figure in the final moments of last year’s summit, without specifying where the money would come from. That’s the trillion-dollar question that haunts every climate summit.
The TFFF’s success depends on attracting sufficient capital. Initial estimates suggest that a $125 billion endowment is needed to ensure impactful payments, with an initial government contribution of around $25 billion to attract private investment. The initiative, known as Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), would be managed by the World Bank and would receive an initial contribution of 25 billion dollars from developed countries, plus 100 billion dollars resources from the private sector. The resources would be invested in a diversified portfolio that could generate returns to repay investors while also rewarding countries that preserve their tropical forests.
A Make-or-Break Moment for Global Climate Action
The stakes are high. COP30 is expected to deliver progress on climate finance after the underwhelming outcome of COP29. If the TFFF is successfully launched with sufficient backing, it will demonstrate real progress in aligning financial incentives with conservation efforts. “Safeguarding the forest’s resilience in the Anthropocene depends on two imperatives: conserving at least 80% of the Amazon biome and global collaboration to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions with adequate financial support,” according to civil society recommendations to the Brazilian presidency.
The world’s attention will be focused on a medium-sized city in the heart of the world’s largest rainforest this November. COP30 is a historic opportunity to place the Amazon at the center of the global climate agenda. Whether Brazil can deliver on its ambitious promises while managing the contradictions of building infrastructure through the very forests it’s trying to protect remains the biggest question of all. Will COP30 mark the turning point where the world finally matched its climate ambitions with real action, or will it become another example of good intentions paved over by political reality?
