This Thursday (13th), Bartel Correia, Interim Secretary General of the Citizens’ House COP30, the United Nations climate change conference being held in Belem, acknowledged that there were problems with the structure and security of the event, but denied that any of them were caused by the failure of the federal government.
The statement came after the United Nations sent a letter to the House of Commons on Wednesday criticizing the COP30 security plan and calling for measures to strengthen regional protection and resolve issues such as flooding and high environmental temperatures. The document said Brazil was not complying with conservation plans for the area, a claim the secretary denies.
Last Tuesday (11th), demonstrators who tried to enter the COP30 holding area were cornered by Brazilian security forces and only restrained by United Nations police. The secretary said there was a meeting to discuss the issue after the incident.
“At the meeting, there was a recognition that there was a problem. There was a recognition that there was a failure. We had our first meeting with everyone the same night. It became clear that there was a problem. We fixed it, and we worked with all the security forces in the country to fix it. We did the diagnostics and found areas for improvement,” he says.
Correia said changes had been made since Tuesday, including placing more military personnel near the conference pavilion, but that was obvious to those attending the event. More soldiers have been deployed, and the security forces, which had been in short supply due to issues with contracting companies, have been strengthened.
All this means that the United Nations, at a new meeting this Thursday (13th), recognizes that the issue has been resolved, he says.
The group also submitted complaints regarding the infrastructure of the COP30 main pavilion. Inadequate air conditioning to cool spaces, lack of water in bathrooms, and flooding in some areas were some of the points criticized.
“When you put up 150,000 square meters of temporary structures, there are technical projects to be evaluated, approved and implemented. But when you stress this in the first few days and put 25,000 people inside, it’s natural that there will be problems. The first day was quite difficult, but it got better. Tomorrow will be better than today,” he said.
For example, he said the number of water tankers has been doubled and air conditioning has been adjusted. “There are still problems, I won’t deny that. We are adjusting, but the important thing is that everyone feels good,” he added.
This document was revealed by Bloomberg, sheet also had access, so it was sent to Minister Rui Costa of the House of Citizens and Ambassador Andre Correa de Lago, President of COP30.
The ambassador told a press conference that the UNFCCC’s concerns had been overcome and would be “fully resolved.” “So it’s not a problem right now. And I have to say that the air conditioning is much better today. We all agree. There were technical problems, but I believe they are being overcome.”
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