"On the edge of the Amazon rainforest, it was where her story played out for five years, from enduring the Covid pandemic, to watching her two children get into the university. But in March everything changed. An eviction notice gave them and their neighbours 30 days to vacate their apartments. One by one, all 12 families were forced out. It was very painful, Freitas said."
"This year's summit, which began with an idealistic dream that the world would come to see the climate crisis for themselves in the rainforest, is increasingly enmeshed in anger and recriminations over sky-high accommodation costs and accusations that poorer countries are being forced out of the meetings. Freitas's story has become an all too common one in a city which, even before it was chosen to host the summit, was suffering a housing shortage and the country's second-highest rental costs."
Suelen Freitas and 11 other families were given 30 days to vacate their Belém apartments so the owner could convert flats into short-term rentals for Cop30 delegates. Landlords and major real estate companies secured exclusive deals to rent high-end properties to foreigners at inflated prices, intensifying an existing housing shortage and driving up local rental costs. Local government and promotional materials framed the summit as a money-making opportunity, encouraging property owners to profit. The result is widespread displacement, rising accommodation costs, and accusations that poorer countries and residents are being priced out of the meetings.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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