The holding of the United Nations climate conference in Belém – an unprecedented event for the Amazon biome and loaded with symbology in the climate change debate – led to transformations in the urban landscape of the capital of Pará, a revitalization unprecedented in the recent history of the city, the second largest in the Amazon.
COP30 had public resources in the order of 4.5 billion reais, intended for interventions in Belém that would be used in public facilities for residents, in addition to direct expenses related to the organization of the event, budgeted at 1 billion reais. The origin of the money was BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), Itaipu Binacional, Caixa Econômica Federal and the State and Union Treasury.
This was an attempt to change poor indicators of basic sanitation, microclimate, afforestation and landscaping, urban mobility and availability of cultural spaces.
After the mega-event held in November, Belém has more parks, reinvigorated ports, revitalized markets and historic spaces, expanded tourism infrastructure and more interventions to expand the wastewater collection network and macro-drainage of canals.
The revitalization, however, encountered a series of problems in the execution of the works carried out by the Government of Pará – led by Helder Barbalho (MDB) – and the Belém City Hall – led by Igor Normando (MDB), Helder’s first cousin.
The state administration has left until 2026 the effective expansion of wastewater collection networks and the attempt to unblock sewerage and drainage works that require the demolition of hundreds of houses. These are the most delayed works.
The city council also failed to realize two promised and announced interventions in favor of some of the poorest regions of the city, the São Joaquim canal and the Mata Fome stream. This work is not expected to be fully completed.
Added to this are public procurement, both at the state and municipal levels, which have become a police matter.
A company that received 633 million reais from the government of Helder Barbalho, from 2020 to 2024, became the target of the PF (Federal Police) and an investigation by the STF (Federal Supreme Court) on suspicion of money laundering, criminal organization and financing of political agents. The main person under investigation is federal deputy Antônio Doido (MDB), an ally of the governor.
One of JA Construcons’s contracts, worth 123.4 million reais, was signed for infrastructure works in the canals of the Belém neighborhoods, within the framework of COP30.
Nearly a month after the conference, on December 16, the STF authorized the PF to execute 31 search and seizure warrants related to the alleged scheme carried out by JA Construcons. Among the addresses where the search was carried out were Doido’s apartment in Brasilia and the property of Benedito Ruy Cabral, Secretary of Public Works of the Pará government. Investigations continue.
The PF also continues to study a municipal program already presented as a priority of COP30, the Mata Fome Watershed Macrodrainage Program, which provided for a vast urban intervention in four neighborhoods of Belém. The project was used as part of an alleged corruption scheme, whose main investigators are under the leadership of Edmilson Rodrigues (PSOL), Normando’s predecessor, according to the PF.
Less than three weeks before the conference, the PF executed 13 search and seizure warrants, fired 12 city hall employees and suspended three public contracts. The evidence collected should lead to further operations.
“COP30 provided investments that reimagined Belém, making the capital of Pará a better city for residents and more attractive for tourists,” the Pará government says in a statement.
Among the key legacies, according to state leadership, are the city park, which is where the conference was held; the Porto Futuro complex, which has become a tourist, cultural and gastronomic center on the edge of Guajará Bay; structural works intended for drainage, collection and treatment of wastewater, in the center and on the outskirts; and the modernization of the hotel network.
Regarding the blocked works, which depend on the demolition of houses and compensation for residents, the state leadership affirms that it “continues the conversation with the owners to guarantee the expropriations necessary for the straightening of the canals”.
Department of Public Works contracts follow the competitive bidding process and principles of legality and morality, with payments made based on measurement reports, he says.
The Belém City Hall, in turn, affirms that there has been a revitalization of squares, fairs and markets, such as São Brás and Ver-o-Peso, two traditional spaces of the city, in addition to the duplication of avenues.
The São Joaquim Urban Park, which benefits from the resources of Itaipu Binacional, has seen its completion extended until April 2026, according to the municipality. There is no definition of sanitation and drainage interventions in neighborhoods. In the case of Mata Fomé, the entire process has been redone and “the work should start soon”, he believes.
“The PF operation targets possible irregularities and illicit acts in sanitation-related contracts signed under the previous administration. This directorate acts transparently and collaborates with investigative bodies,” the note quotes.
The Pará government says that COP30 left a legacy of consolidating the eastern Amazon and Belém as a “strategic center of the global climate debate.” The city’s climate agenda advanced with the conference, according to City Hall.
For the rector of the UFPA (Federal University of Pará), Gilmar Pereira da Silva, the main legacy of COP30 lies not in the works that the city received, but in the way in which the dialogue on the Amazon rainforest took place and the inclusion of local science and traditional communities in the central debate.
“We got involved body and soul,” says the rector. “The works that the city received were secondary. The main thing was the possibility for people to see the Amazon. Light was shed on this and it was possible to see that there is wisdom, culture and values installed in the region. The population here discovered itself as Amazon.”
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