From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

They might need to bulldoze more rainforest to accommodate all the climate activists.

UN tries to limit staff going to Cop30 in Brazil due to high price of hotels

Accommodation costs at climate summit in Belem are pricing out some developing countries and media outlets

Staff and agenciesWed 17 Sep 2025 02.44 AEST

The United Nations has urged its staff to limit attendance at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil in November due to high accommodation prices, while government delegations are still scrambling to find rooms within their budgets.

The move comes as delegations grow increasingly concerned about the cost of accommodation in the coastal Amazon city of Belem hosting Cop30. Brazil said it was working to increase the number of available hotel beds but soaring prices for accommodation have stoked calls from some governments to relocate the conference, which Brazilian officials have rejected.

“In view of the capacity constraints in Belem, I would like to kindly request that heads of the United Nations system, specialized agencies and other relevant organizations review the size of their delegations at Cop30 and reduce numbers where possible,” the UN climate secretariat’s executive secretary, Simon Stiell, said in a document published on the UN website.

…

At a meeting of countries’ representatives and UN officials last month, the UN asked Brazil to subsidise hotel prices to ensure rooms for $100 a day for delegates from the world’s poorest countries and $400-$500 a day for other countries, according to an official summary of that meeting.

…Read more: 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/16/un-tries-to-limit-staff-going-to-cop30-in-brazil-due-to-high-price-of-hotels

I love the UN demand that Brazil should throw a subsidy at an accommodation supply crisis. A bit like throwing gasoline on a fire.

The city of Belém sounds like an interesting place. Despite being the gateway to the Amazon River, it is claimed Belém has a surprisingly low Malaria risk. But there are lots of suggestions online that Belém has a problem with Typhoid, including a substantial outbreak in 2024.

Typhoid Fever is a horrible disease, which is transmitted by consuming contaminated food or drink.

I once caught Typhoid after a trip to Asia. My mum found me delirious and running a high fever in the house I was renting. I was hallucinating I was freezing cold, and had 3 sweaters on and the heater turned up to maximum, but was actually burning up with fever. Typhoid is insidious – the symptoms appeared slowly, so slowly they never triggered any mental alarm bells. At the peak of my illness I had no idea how unwell I was, or how long I had been sick. Lucky my mum paid an unexpected visit, she had probably tried to phone me and didn’t get an answer. Mum took one look at me and dragged me straight to the doctor, despite my protests I was fine. Thankfully what I had was not a drug resistant strain, a single massive dose of antibiotics broke my fever.

What can I say – if you are planning to attend COP30 despite the risk, probably best to avoid share accommodation. Be careful what you drink, and stick to eating hot, well-cooked food with sparkling clean utensils.