Brazil's Amazonian city of Belém to host COP30 in 2025
The city of Belém on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon has been chosen to host the COP30 round of global climate talks in 2025, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Friday. "I am convinced that it will be a great event... the world will love the people of the state of Pará" of which Belém is the capital, the president said in a video posted on social media. "I already participated in this conference [Conference of the Parties or COP] in Egypt, in France, and everyone was talking about the Amazon. So I said: 'Why not hold the conference there, so you know where the Amazon is?'" Lula said about his offer to host the annual talks. Brazil had been chosen to host the COP in 2019, but withdrew its offer shortly after the election of Lula's far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro – a climate change sceptic accused of dismantling environmental protections during his term. Lula, who assumed his third term as head of Brazil in January, has promised to eradicate illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030. – TIMES/AFP