From the window of an arriving plane, Belém gleams. Freshly painted facades, landscaped avenues, shimmering lights along the Guamá River — a city dressed for its global moment as the host of COP30, the world’s most important climate summit.
But just beyond the glossy corridors of the airport and the renovated arteries leading into the Amazon’s gateway, a different Belém unfolds — one marked by rising living costs, fragile sanitation, water scarcity, and a drug crisis that residents say has quietly worsened while the city was being polished for international visitors.
“Anyone flying from anywhere in the world sees a new, colorful Belém. But we are living the frustrations: jobs, inflation, drugs, sanitation,” said one resident interviewed by Just Energy News during a week of reporting across the city.
Dozens of locals echo this sentiment. The multibillion-dollar transformation, funded jointly by Brazil’s federal government and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), may have beautified urban spaces — but it has not resolved the city’s deepest problems.
Billions Spent on Beautification, but Basics Lag Behind
Over the last six months, authorities have poured several billion dollars into preparing Belém for COP30. These funds have gone into repaving streets, expanding accommodation capacity, improving drainage systems, and giving major avenues a facelift.
“We have witnessed beautification and road renovation for years — in the last six years maybe more than ever,” said an Uber driver from Terra Firme. “But while the roads improved, our real problem is vulnerable sanitation and the rising cost of everything.”
He gestured toward a recently expanded boulevard. “Roads are fine now. But that does not fix our water scarcity or the cost of living.”
The contrast is sharpest in the baixadas — low-lying, flood-prone neighborhoods. Many still lack stable water supply and proper sewage systems, even as tourist corridors sparkle.
A Drug Crisis in the Shadows
Beauty, locals say, hides a deeper anxiety.
“The number of people addicted to drugs is alarming here. It’s everywhere,” the Uber driver told us.
Across Belém’s central plazas and beneath overpasses, Just Energy News observed large numbers of unhoused and drug-dependent people — a human landscape absent from the polished narratives promoted to COP30 delegates.
A biologist from another Brazilian state, attending COP30, put it bluntly:
“The drug mafia rules not only this city but other cities as well. We are frustrated because they influence politics and policies.”
Her words reflect a wider fear: that organized crime remains deeply woven into the region’s social fabric, even as public security forces announce record operations and declining homicide rates.
Indeed, data from Pará’s Public Security Secretariat show a 44–75% rise in drug seizures in recent years, suggesting either intensified trafficking or stronger enforcement — or both. Riverine police operations have expanded, and more than 50 tons of narcotics have been seized in the past six years.
Still, for many residents, the improvements feel distant.
Liquor More Accessible Than Water
In several restaurants and bars, Just Energy News found another troubling pattern: shortages of potable water, making liquor cheaper and more accessible than safe drinking water.
“It’s easier to find alcohol than clean water in parts of the city,” said a resident in Cidade Velha. “How can we welcome the world like this?”
Belém’s water scarcity is not new, but locals say the surge of COP30 visitors has stretched supplies even thinner.
A Thriving Tourism Economy—But Not for Everyone
COP30 has made Belém one of Brazil’s hottest travel destinations. The government has guaranteed 53,000 accommodation beds for visitors, and rental prices in central districts have skyrocketed.
But this boom comes at a cost. Several families told us they were pushed out by landlords converting homes into short-stay rentals, a trend that risks deepening inequality.
“We need government intervention — for jobs, sanitation, inflation, and drug issues. Not just for painting walls,” said another resident from Guamá.
Security Successes and Unfinished Battles
To be sure, Pará’s government touts genuine achievements. Violent crime has dropped sharply, with homicides down nearly 60% from 2018 levels. The state conducted almost 1,400 police operations in the first half of 2025 alone. Belém has been removed from the list of Brazil’s most violent capitals.
These figures matter. They paint a picture of a government striving to leave a “security legacy” beyond the summit.
Yet residents and experts say the drug economy remains resilient — fed by poverty, unemployment, and decades of weak urban planning. COP30, they argue, may expose this contradiction more than it hides it.
The Amazon’s Global Stage Meets Local Reality
COP30 was designed to spotlight the Amazon as the world’s climate frontier. And in many ways, it succeeds: the city is vibrant, the infrastructure modernized, and the global attention unprecedented.
But for those living in Belém’s outskirts, the summit also highlights a disturbing truth:
A city can be beautified in six months, but its deepest wounds take far longer to heal.
As leaders negotiate global climate solutions inside the summit hall, residents across Belém continue to wrestle with the everyday climate of crime, uneven development, and unmet basic needs.
Belém shines brighter than ever — yet its shadows, too, have never been more visible.