A few weeks are missing at the 30th United Nations Conference on the Climate (Cop30), scheduled from 10 to 21 November 2025 a Belém, capital of the state of the pará, and the city is already experiencing a real accommodation crisis.
The demand for accommodation has sketched to the stars, fueling unprecedented speculative speculative phenomena and increases, which concern international visitors, but also and above all the residents of the Amazon city.
A city under pressure
Belém, with its 1.3 million inhabitants, will host up to 50 thousand people in the top days of the conference, when heads of state, negotiators and activists from all over the world will meet to discuss the planet’s climate future.
But the reality is that the city is not equipped for such a massive flow. Until recently, it had just 18 thousand hotel beds, which is why it was well thought to double the ability to manage the event.
But at the expense of whom?
Stars and resident rentals in trouble
Belém suffered before a huge housing deficiency and one of the most expensive real estate markets in Brazil. And now, with the arrival of the summit, the situation has exploded: agencies and large owners have sniffed the deal, offering prices out of reach for the local population and signing exclusive contracts with international operators.
The Cop30 was only the icing on the cake – explains Priscilla Santos, co -founder of the Think Tank Rede Amazônidas climate hair. The properties have been transformed into ATMs, while the residents are pushed out of their homes.
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It is not just about evictions. As the The GuardianGiovana Silva, had signed, pregnant, a three -year contract for a house with a garden. The owner proposed to him to leave it free in November, in exchange for an negligible figure compared to what he will earn by renting it during the Cop30.
In response to speculation, however, much are EU community platforms that have arisen: projects led by associations, religious groups or simple citizens who try to offer accommodation at affordable prices to the Cop30 participants. A way to preserve the welcoming soul of the people of Belém.
The Cop30 was born with the aim of saving the planet, but risks leaving deep scars right in the heart of the forest she wants to protect. In Belém, the families who for years have intertwined their lives with those roads, with those courtyards and with the neighborhood ties, now find themselves suspended, forced to choose between remaining invisible or getting aside in front of the race for profit. It is the paradox of an event that speaks of climatic justice, but that too often forgets social justice.
Yet, despite evictions and difficulties, a silent force emerges: that of a community that does not want to surrender. Because the Amazon is not only a natural heritage to be preserved, but it is also made of people, stories, daily resistance. If the Cop30 really wants to be a turning point, then he will have to listen to these voices, recognize these sacrifices and transform Belém’s pain into a seed of change.
Only in this way can the summit leave something more precious than new structures: the hope of a more just future for the earth and for those who live there.
