Road to COP30  

Dr. Seema JAved 

This year in 2025 the 30th Cop will be held in Belem, Brazil from 10th -21stNovember. Eight miles of “Amazon rainforest” are being cleared to build a four-lane Avenida Liberdade highway in Belém, ahead of the COP30 climate talks this year.The road is designed to ease traffic in the Brazilian city.

The Brazilian government said that the -” the road was planned before COP30 was announced.The Extraordinary Secretariat for COP30, linked to the Office of the Chief of Staff (Casa Civil) of the Presidency of Brasil, clarifies that the construction work for the Avenida Liberdade highway in Belém, is not part of the 33 infrastructure projects planned for COP30 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference) to be held in November of this year.

Following US withdrawal from Paris agreement The Brazilian Cop 30 presidency has written a letter and invited all presidencies of the UN climate conference from COP21 (France) to COP29 (Azerbaijan) to form a “Circle of Presidencies” for a fight back through effective use of multilateral climate action on climate change .

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon forest has been steadily rising since 2012 due to lack of law enforcement and official narratives favouring illegal land grabbers and miners. Clearance of eight miles of pristine Amazon forest causes concern for a world getting warmer and warmer due to climate change.Deforestation of the Amazon forest went up 9,5% between August 2019 and July 2020 and reached 11,088 km², compared to 10,129 km² in the previous 12 months. This degraded area is the largest in 12 years and equivalent to 7.2 times the size of the city of São Paulo. It reached 11,088 km² deforestation, compared to 10,129 km² in the previous year. The number was t the highest since 2008.

Brazil is the 5th largest GHG emitter in the world. Unlike the other top emitters, its emissions come mainly from deforestation, agriculture and cattle. The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity, and many say this deforestation contradicts the very purpose of a climate summit.