Dozens of countries have yet to secure accommodation for their delegations at the COP30 climate summit, just a week before it begins, prompting host nation Brazil to offer free cruise ship cabins to poorer states in a last-minute effort to guarantee their participation.
Around 50,000 delegates are expected to gather in the Amazonian city of Belém from 10 to 21 November to negotiate new climate targets. However, preparations have been beset by logistical challenges: the city normally has only 18,000 hotel beds, sending room prices soaring to several hundred dollars per night.
By 31 October, Brazil’s government said 149 countries had confirmed lodging arrangements, while 37 were still in talks.
Brazil pledges inclusivity for vulnerable nations
Brazil has promised that even the poorest and most climate-vulnerable nations will be able to attend and make their voices heard at the U.N. summit. Rising accommodation costs had already triggered emergency discussions after several African and small island states warned they could not afford to participate despite subsidies provided by Brazil and the U.N.
A leaked email seen by Reuters revealed that Brazil recently offered three free cabins aboard cruise ships docked in Belém to delegations from low-income countries.
According to the email, sent by the U.N. climate secretariat (UNFCCC), the cabins would be funded by "private donors" and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, with coordination handled by Brazil’s government and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).
“These cabins will be offered free of charge to your delegation,” the message read, describing them as supplementary to existing hotel bookings.
Neither the UNFCCC nor the UNDP commented on the matter.
COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago said last week that the free cabins would be allocated to African countries, small island developing states, and Least Developed Countries — about 96 nations in total, according to Reuters calculations.
"With this initiative, we will ensure that all developing countries can be represented at COP30", Corrêa do Lago said.
Meanwhile, several wealthier European nations have reportedly considered skipping this year’s climate talks after being quoted accommodation rates exceeding $500 per person per night.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran see...
North Korea has deployed troops, weapons and now, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official, a missile unit to support Russia's war against Ukrai...
Kazakhstan has begun building the Beineu-Saksaulsk highway, a new Middle Corridor link expected to shorten freight journeys between China and Europe b...
One hundred years after the First World War and more than eighty years after the devastation of the Second World War gave rise to the United Nations, humanity once again finds itself living in an age of permanent crisis.
Flights arriving at Catania airport in eastern Sicily were suspended after volcanic ash from a new eruption of Mount Etna drifted into the airspace around the airport, disrupting operations at one of Italy’s busiest aviation hubs.
For months, efforts to secure the Red Sea have focused on what is happening in the water. Naval deployments have increased, governments have expanded maritime cooperation and shipping companies have adapted to persistent security threats.
Greenland has issued a “strong warning” to a U.S. oil company linked to President Donald Trump after drilling equipment was brought ashore without the required government approvals, according to British media.
Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions.
North Korea has deployed troops, weapons and now, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official, a missile unit to support Russia's war against Ukraine, marking Pyongyang's most significant involvement in a war since the 1950s.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to increase its workforce at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant to 100 specialists by the autumn, depending on the security situation and progress toward a halt in hostilities between Washington and Tehran.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned FIFA against replacing its president, Gianni Infantino, as the football governing body faces mounting pressure over a failed proposal to sell an interest in the World Cup to private equity investors.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment