Belém, Para, Brazil, center of bioeconomy Amazonia

For a year, the center of the climate world

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Amsterdam, 24 april 2024– In 2025, the climate summit, COP30, will be organized in Belém.

Why it is so special that it takes place there and why a visit by agricultural and nature organizations before the COP is worthwhile.

The Dutch LNV is committed to sustainable agriculture and nature conservation in Brazil.

The state of Pará, the state of which Belém is the capital, is an Amazonian state. The Amazon flows here into the Atlantic Ocean.

After Amazonas, it is the state with the most rainforest, but unfortunately also with the most deforestation. It is therefore an important place for efforts to combat deforestation and biodiversity and we work here, for example, with IDH, Solidariad and WUR on transparency and agroforestry.

The city of BelémThe city of Belém is a historic city.

At the end of the 19th century there was an economic boom due to the rubber industry. The wealth of that time is reflected in many buildings that clearly show the link with Europe and especially Portugal.

Splendor and splendor, little was financially unfeasible at that time. After the collapse of the rubber industry, the construction of the infrastructure that connected this part of the country with the rest of Brazil followed in the middle of the last century.

That has attracted many people to the area. Today’s city is a mix of old splendor, poverty and decay and new hip places. Mixed with all the greenery of the rainforest and the mighty Amazon River, it is a city like no other in the world.

Special Belém in Brazil

A quote from President Lula: “If everyone is talking about the Amazon, why not hold the climate summit in an Amazon state.”

The Lula government and the state of Pará have committed to reducing deforestation. COP 30 is an incentive and a platform to ask for more help with that mission.

Although symbolically well chosen, Belém is an unusual suspect due to its location and facilities. The previous COP was in Dubai. Dubai has more than 90,000 hotel rooms. The estimate for Belém is: 14,000.

Belém is also a 3.5-hour flight from São Paulo, Brazil’s largest international airport.

The city is also an important center for the ‘indigenous rights movement’ and there are large protected nature reserves near the city. The visiting international community can therefore learn more than usual about the situation in the Amazon and its inhabitants during the COP.

Come to Belém earlier.

Belém is the capital of a state twice the size of Spain and more than eight million people. There is a lot of potential for the bio economy, for tourism but also for regular agriculture. The challenge for this state, Brazil and the world is to find the right balance between economic activity and nature conservation.

With the attention of the world, the ambitions of the government and an open attitude to the world, there is now a unique opportunity for Dutch organizations to make a difference.
A few examples of Dutch organizations that are already active: IDH is working on transparent chains and the area-oriented approach in Pará.

A few weeks ago we organized a round table in Belém to discuss the importance of balance between different activities.

Solidaridad supports small farmers to earn a living income in the forest in a sustainable way.

We did a project together with Agrifirm to support small farmers in registering land. WUR is working on transparency of the Açai chain and the land registry supports an indiginous group in registering land rights. Finally, the Black Jaguar Foundation of the Netherlands is working on Ben Valk to reforest an important biodiversity corridor that runs through both the Amazon and the Cerrado in Pará. 2025 is a unique year to either support existing initiatives or start new ones. From LNV, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Climate, we support this by linking good ideas to parties in Pará.

So for anyone with a good idea.

Conclusion

More than a normal climate summit, the unique location of COP30 is an important part of the image of the climate summit and its success. That success starts with more connections between organizations in Pará and international, and therefore also Dutch and other international, parties.
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