A Highway to Hypocrisy

Media reporting around preparations for the COP30 climate summit is worrying.

- Govind Singh and Mihika Chaturvedi

COP30 is the 30th UN-led Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is slated to take place in Belém, Brazil in November this year. Preparations are currently underway for this global summit, which will bring thousands of people to the port city of Belém. According to a recent BBC news report, a four-lane highway is being built for the COP30 climate summit. This new highway, aimed at easing traffic, will cut through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest.

The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has drawn criticism from conservationists and locals, who argue that it directly contradicts the summit's environmental goals. The UNFCCC was adopted in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its primary aim is to discuss steps toward international climate action, for which it organizes the annual COP summit. The COP provides a platform for strengthening carbon emission reduction targets and promoting climate change adaptation strategies. Constructing a new highway through the Amazon rainforest, a well-known carbon sink, is bound to raise eyebrows. It has also put the intent of the COP30 summit under scrutiny.