Brazil COP30 climate summit lodging too pricey for some nations
High prices for lodging may force small island states to slash the size of their delegations to the November COP30 climate summit in Brazil, a representative said Friday.
'The 39 members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) have continually expressed their concerns about the prohibitive costs associated with travelling to and staying in Belem,' Ilana Seid, chair of the group and representative of Palau at the United Nations, told AFP by email.
'We do not have the luxury of large budgets at our disposal to ensure our participation,' she said on behalf of the countries that dot oceans worldwide and are especially vulnerable to sea level rise and superstorms amplified by global warming.
'If our delegations are reduced or unable to participate effectively, it would be a failure in the pursuit of climate justice for those whose lives and livelihoods are on the front line of a crisis they did not cause,' Seid said.
The UN climate conference will be held in November in Belem, an Amazonian city of 1.3 million inhabitants with limited hotel accommodations.
Less than 100 days before the event, the prices have caused such widespread consternation that some countries have asked for the conference to be moved to another city.
Austria's head of state this week cancelled his planned trip, citing 'exceptionally high costs'.
Recent months have seen hotels advertising rooms at 1,200 euros (US$1,400) a night.
Some offerings on the Airbnb booking platform were even higher.
Airbnb said it was 'committed to increasing efforts to raise awareness in the local hosting community and encourage responsible practices'.
Since November 2023 the number of listings for the Belem region had surged to 6,100 from 1,000, 'which represents around 19,000 beds', it told AFP, in a statement.
The COP30 presidency, which does not intend to move the event, has offered reduced-price accommodation for developing and island countries, including cabins on cruise ships.
But the price of these rooms is 'still higher' than the package agreed for UN-backed travellers, Seid said.
'The allocation of 15 rooms per delegation is also alarming, meaning that many of our countries would be forced to reduce the size of their delegations,' she said.
The COP30 president, Andre Correa do Lago, acknowledged this month that there were 'extreme concerns' and that 'reducing delegations is obviously not what Brazil wants because we need a very intense and productive COP'.
'We are trying to find solutions to this price issue,' he told journalists.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
27 minutes ago
- CTV News
Taliban investigating death threats against United Nations' Afghan female staff, report says
The UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File) ISLAMABAD — The Taliban are investigating explicit death threats against dozens of Afghan women working for the United Nations, according to a report published Sunday. In its latest update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, the UN mission to the country said that dozens of female national staff were subjected to explicit death threats in May. The threats came from unidentified individuals related to their work with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, other agencies, funds, and programs, 'requiring the UN to implement interim measures to protect their safety,' according to the report. It said that the Taliban told the UN mission that their personnel were not responsible for the threats. An Interior Ministry investigation is underway, the report said. Afghan authorities, including the Interior Ministry, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the report or the investigation. The Taliban barred Afghan women from working at domestic and foreign nongovernmental organizations in December 2022, extending this ban to the UN six months later, and then threatening to shut down agencies and groups still employing women. Humanitarian agencies say the Taliban have hampered or interfered with their operations, allegations denied by authorities. The UN report is the first official confirmation of death threats against Afghan women working in the sector. The report also highlighted other areas affecting women's personal freedoms and safety. In Herat, inspectors from the Vice and Virtue Ministry began requiring women to wear a chador, a full-body cloak covering the head. Dozens of women deemed 'not in compliance' were barred from entering markets or using public transportation. Several women were detained until relatives brought them a chador, the report said. In Uruzgan, women were arrested for wearing a headscarf, a hijab, rather than a burqa. Women have also been denied access to public areas, in line with laws banning them from such spaces. In Ghor province, police forced several families to leave a recreational area. They warned the families against visiting outdoor picnic sites with women. In Herat, Vice and Virtue inspectors stopped family groups with women and girls from accessing an open recreational area, only allowing all-male groups. Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry was immediately available to comment on the Ghor, Herat and Uruzgan incidents, which the UN said happened in May. In Kandahar, the Public Health Department instructed female health care workers to be accompanied to work by male guardians with an identification card proving that they were related to the woman by blood or marriage. It wasn't immediately clear if the card is specific to Kandahar or will be rolled out across Afghanistan. 'The process to apply for a mahram (male guardian) identification card is reportedly cumbersome and can take up to several weeks as it requires the de facto Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and a member of the local community (e.g. malik, imam or village elder) to verify the relationship,' the UN report said. The Associated Press
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Taliban investigating death threats against United Nations' Afghan female staff, report says
FILE - The UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File) TS flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Thinking of Buying Amazon Stock? Here's 1 Green Flag and 1 Red Flag.
Key Points Amazon's retail engine is slowing. Advertising is quietly gaining momentum. Amazon's integrated ecosystem is a competitive moat. 10 stocks we like better than Amazon › Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is one of the most important businesses of the internet era -- and arguably still not clearly understood. Many still view it as an e-commerce company. But beneath the surface, Amazon has quietly built up a multiengine empire, spanning cloud computing, advertising, and entertainment. This article will explore one of Amazon's underappreciated strengths and one real risk that long-term investors should keep in mind. Red flag: E-commerce growth is slowing, and margins remain thin For years, Amazon's e-commerce has been its bedrock for growth, slowly capturing market share from offline retailers and other incumbents. It has been wildly successful, making it a giant of its own. But here's the thing: For all its dominance, Amazon's core e-commerce business is maturing. Worse, it is increasingly facing pressure on multiple fronts, and that's reflected in its recent numbers. In the second quarter of 2025, North America segment sales rose just 8% year over year while the international segment's revenue grew by only 5%. That's a far cry from the breakneck growth rates of the 2010s. More concerning, the company's core commerce revenue (online sales, physical stores, and third-party services) grew at around 5% to 6%, much lower than the numbers above after excluding advertising and subscription revenue. And despite its gigantic size -- net sales reached $126 billion in the first quarter of 2025 -- it had an operating profit of just $6.8 billion, or 5.4%. That margin might be acceptable for a grocery store. But for a tech giant with massive infrastructure costs, it limits how much the retail engine can contribute to long-term earnings power. To make things tougher, Amazon faces growing competition from low-cost, well-positioned challengers like Temu and Shein. These newcomers are leveraging ultra-lean supply chains and social virality to win younger consumers -- and they're increasingly encroaching on categories like apparel, beauty, and home goods. The silver lining? Amazon isn't standing still. Its logistics network is becoming more efficient, with faster delivery speeds and lower costs per package. It's also pushing hard on its own low-cost e-commerce (Amazon Haul) to overcome Temu and Shein. Still, investors will want to see Amazon prove it can sustain even modest growth -- and expand margins over time for its commerce segment. Otherwise, this red flag could remain a drag on the stock, even as other business lines post better numbers. Green flag: Amazon's advertising business is quietly exploding If retail is showing signs of fatigue, advertising might be Amazon's next growth engine. In Q1 2025, Amazon's ad revenue jumped 18% year over year to $13.9 billion, making it one of the largest digital advertising platforms globally. Moreover, advertising is a high-margin business, meaning it may eventually contribute more to the bottom line than the retail business. What makes Amazon ads unique isn't just impressions. It's intent. Amazon reaches customers at the moment they're ready to buy -- giving it higher conversion rates than search or social platforms. And with its massive trove of first-party purchase data, Amazon offers brands a powerful platform for targeted marketing. But advertising doesn't end on Amazon's shopping sites. The recent move to introduce ads in Prime Video has opened a new chapter. With hundreds of millions of global Prime members, Amazon now runs one of the largest ad-supported streaming platforms in the world. Even Google and Meta Platforms can't fully match this. That's because Amazon owns the entire customer journey -- from ad exposure, to product search, to purchase -- all within its ecosystem. This closed-loop attribution model allows brands to track precisely how ads turn into sales. For example, a user might see a product placement on Prime Video, tap an ad on their Fire TV, and complete the purchase on Amazon's app -- all while feeding Amazon's flywheel of shopping and behavioral data. That kind of end-to-end visibility is gold for marketers. What does it mean for investors? Amazon isn't just an e-commerce company anymore. While retail remains a critical piece of its empire, it's becoming clearer that Amazon's long-term profit engine will come from high-margin businesses like cloud computing and advertising. In particular, the ad business is gaining real momentum, with unique advantages that could drive years of growth. Yes, retail faces challenges. But if Amazon can stabilize commerce and let other faster-growing segments do the heavy lifting, the stock could still compound over time. For long-term investors, understanding which parts of Amazon are growing -- and which are not -- may be the key to seeing the company's future. Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon right now? Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025
