Photo Credit: UNFCCC @ COP30 in Belém, Brazil – Peaceful protestors blocking Blue Zone entrance
The frantic energy of earlier in the week has given way to something more focused – and slightly more caffeinated. It helps that many attendees have only just discovered the “gastronomy” food court, a tucked-away oasis serving vegan sandwiches, feijoada bowls, and, to everyone’s delight, chilled cans of Guaraná Zero. Five days in, and people are suddenly realising COP has a snack scene.
Over lunch, new friendships are forged, restaurant tips are exchanged, and side event gossip is shared like seasoning. One Brazilian attendee beamed as he handed over a can of soda to a visiting European journalist, insisting, “This is the taste of home.” It might also be the taste of Day Five fatigue, judging by the queues.
The mood was briefly disrupted this morning when a group of Indigenous protestors linked hands and blocked the main Blue Zone entrance. It was peaceful, powerful, and effective. The usual airport-style scanners were unreachable, so everyone was redirected through a back entrance that quickly became a pop-up checkpoint. Hand-scanning, bag checks, and a makeshift queue turned the detour into a bit of theatre. According to murmurs in the media centre, the journalists swarming the scene were more disruptive than the protest itself. Whether true or not, it’s a classic COP30 plot twist.
Inside, talk turned to forests and finance. Brazil launched a new forest protection fund with the kind of ambition people have been craving – a multi-billion-dollar plan to pay countries for keeping trees standing. Meanwhile, negotiators attempted to narrow down hundreds of potential indicators for climate resilience to something more manageable (one delegate described it as “trying to alphabetise a sandstorm”). And there was plenty of buzz around the trillion-dollar finance roadmap – big numbers, big promises, but a fair amount of cautious squinting from observers waiting for the money to actually move.
Still, the vibe is upbeat. Maybe it’s the sugar. Maybe it’s the steady sense that something is clicking. The sun stayed out, the samba beat in the corridors returned, and for once, the air conditioning wasn’t the most dramatic thing in the room.
With the first week almost wrapped, COP30 feels alive – unpredictable, sweaty, hopeful. And as one delegate said while cracking open a second Guaraná, “This place is chaos. But it’s the right kind of chaos.”
Come back tomorrow for more behind-the-scenes flavour from Belém.
