Belem, host of next year's climate talks, is Amazonian city plagued with pollution and violence

BELEM, Brazil — For the last few years, climate scientists, environmentalists and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have been talking up the first U.N. climate conference to be held in the Amazon. The largest tropical forest in the world stores huge amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases, making it crucial in the world's fight against climate change.

In addition to the symbolism of hosting in the Amazon, COP30, as the climate talks are called, will be a pivotal gathering because nations must come with updated plans to reduce emissions.

But when tens of thousands of participants arrive in the host city of Belem next year, they won’t find idyllic images of rainforest, like lush vegetation and clean rivers. In Belem, impoverished, crime-ridden and filled with inequalities, most of the 2.5 million residents live in slums. What's more, only 2% of the city's sewage gets treated, imposing a heavy toll on its 14 river basins.

Since it was designated host two years ago, this bustling metropolitan area near the Amazon River has been racing to prepare. In several parts of the city, construction hoardings bearing “COP30” signs surround buildings. Three major hotels are under development, but that won't provide enough rooms, so organizers plan to get cruise ships that can house up to 5,000 people. Brazil's government estimates that 50,000 people will attend COP30, including up to 150 heads of state.

COP30 will also serve as a test for Lula’s commitment to preserving the Amazon. When he was elected for a third term in 2022, the leftist leader was celebrated for promises to curb the explosion of deforestation that occurred during the far-right government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

While Lula's administration has sharply reduced the rate of forest destruction, the Brazilian leader has made statements in favor of two of the most controversial projects in the region: opening the mouth of the Amazon River for large oil exploration and paving a highway that cuts through the most preserved section of the rainforest.

Infrastructure and security preparations in historically violent city

The state government of Para has launched some 30 infrastructure projects that range from tourism to urban development.

One of the largest is Parque da Cidade, or City Park, spanning 500,000 square meters (123 acres) atop a former airfield. It will feature a museum, restaurants and walking and cycling trails. After serving as a venue for COP, it will become a public space.

The project is being carried out by mining giant Vale, responsible for two of Brazil’s most devastating environmental disasters, in 2015 and 2019, when waste dams collapsed in Minas Gerais state, killing 291 people and contaminating hundreds of miles of waterways.

In a statement, the Para government said local legislation allows mining companies to pay a portion of mining fees in the form of public projects. It also said Vale, which operates one of the world’s largest iron ore mines in this Amazon state, is in compliance with environmental laws.

Belem has often been ranked as one of the most violent cities in Brazil and even the world. Organized crime and police-linked militia control parts of the city, and it's common for residents to recount robbery stories. Security will be increased during the conference, with early plans to have the military, Brazil's intelligence agency and local law enforcement agencies involved.

Still, the city is used to big crowds. Every November, it hosts Procession of Our Lady of Nazareth, one of Latin America's largest religious festivities. This year, around 2 million people flocked to Belem's streets and there were no major incidents.

Moreover, Brazil has hosted major international events, including the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Summer Olympics and the historic United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in 1992, which set up the process of international climate negotiations.

One river is a microcosm of Belem's problems

The Tucunduba River, which ends almost three miles from its headwaters into the much larger Guama River, is the receptacle of much untreated sewage and garbage as it crosses through two of Belem’s poorest neighborhoods.

During a boat trip in October, Associated Press journalists experienced foul-smelling water and saw refrigerators floating amid islands of trash that herons would land on. In the stretch next to the Terra Firme neighborhood, its banks have been taken over by stilted houses built informally.

“I used to bathe here until I was 14. There were trees around, and the water was dark and cold,” said boatman Fabio Passos, 42. But what used to be a river is now “a big ditch," he said.

The river pollution is connected to Belem's chaotic growth in the past decades, when Brazil experienced a massive migration from rural to urban areas. Until the 1970s, most of the Amazon population lived in the rainforest. Today, 75% of its 28 million inhabitants are in urban areas, where poverty is widespread and drug-related violence rampant.

One of these migrants is João Maria Garcias, 55, a metalworker who moved to a squatter settlement near Tucunduba from a riverine community in 1987. In the beginning, locals caught fish and even shrimp in the river. Then, stilt houses took over the banks, bringing sewage.

A father of six, Garcias said the neighborhood used to be very violent, but now he can leave work tools unguarded thanks to a criminal gang that controls the area.

“If somebody steals, they shoot them in the hand. Thank God it's calmer now," he said.

In preparation for COP, under the name of “macro drainage,” the state government has been installing hundreds of concrete slabs along the banks of the river and its tributaries. The project includes expanding the sewage and water supply systems and paving roads. In a statement, the state government said the effort “will help reduce flooding problems."

This approach has been criticized by Mandi, a women-led nonprofit environmental group focused on Belem’s rivers and climate change. It argues that to prevent flooding it would be better to restore the river’s banks by planting vegetation and removing concrete, thus allowing its waters to run freely.

“The memory of the Amazonian person taking a bath in the river is fading away," said biologist Natasha Reis, a spokeswoman at Mandi. "We cannot preserve what we do not love and experience. How will future generations have the desire to preserve a river that has always been a ditch for them?”

One of Mandi’s educational activities is taking students to visit the Tucunduba’s headwaters. The area was preserved thanks to Paraguassú Éleres, 85, a surveyor, lawyer and writer. In 1977, he bought a piece of land to build the family’s house. During the construction, he ignored the engineer´s advice and decided to preserve the headwaters, planting a garden around the 105-square-meter (1,130 square feet) pond.

The day AP visited Éleres, giant Amazon turtles swam freely in the pond on his property while a statue-like heron waited for its chance to snatch a fish from the greenish water. An oasis amid the buildings and streets, it's the only clean part of the Tucunduba River.

“There was no urban planning, and people were taking over. The headwaters are only clean because I decided to preserve them," said Éleres.