Impressions from Belém by Claus Wilkens, former Blue Community / Blue School of Büdingen, Germany, now living in Brazil:
A multitude of events, a huge programme, hardly possible to keep track of everything, but Belém is still making an effort, is friendly, helpful and in a good mood, from the taxi drivers to the volunteers, the police and soldiers – typically Brazilian, in other words.
I visited various events, such as climate justice and international cooperation, but also the march on the water for people worldwide who live on rivers. These many boats and ships were very impressive and showed the commitment of the people who had all come to Belém for climate justice. The opening of the Cupula dos povos (Peoples’ Summit) was a large, colourful event that always takes place parallel to the official COP.
The visit to the Green Zone showed where everyone is allowed to go, a multitude of initiatives with many indigenous and traditional communities. The atmosphere is good, many indigenous people are there and shape the cityscape. In a way, it is their COP, even if their hopes of seeing their demands met are unlikely to be fulfilled ‘for other reasons’. They are the communities that suffer most directly from climate change – even now! Saturday was the day of the march through Belém, with up to 50,000 participants (according to the organizers). It was a colourful event with flags and people dressed up, for example as jaguars.
Water, water, aqua plays a rather minor role and often does not even feature properly in the debates. A paradigm shift seems to be necessary for the global community here. Because without water, all other problems are secondary and the very basis of human existence is threatened.,
Abracos
Claus
