The thirtieth conference of the parties (COP30), the parties being the countries that have signed up to the original UN climate treaty in 1992 to avoid "dangerous interference" with the climate, is underway in the Brazilian city of Belen.

The choice of this rainforest city, Sky News reports, was controversial because it is impoverished and rife with inequality, with most of its 2.5 million residents living in slums. Questions were asked about its ability to host thousands of people projected to attend the biggest climate meeting of the year, in view of the serious lack of accommodation.

So far, the city's race to prepare for the event since it was designated host two years ago, with government investments of some $1bn going into building new hotels, refurbishing old ones and improving roads, parks, and drainage channels, seems to have succeeded as no serious adverse report has surfaced yet, apart from the known accommodation challenges.

SKY News reports the city had to get creative, turning to "love" motels aimed at couples, ferries that normally ply the rivers, and school classrooms to host visitors.

Price gouging is a problem every year at COP, wherever it was hosted; however, it's been so hard to find rooms this year that some furious countries even lobbied Brazil to switch cities. Even the cheapest hotels have averaged hundreds of dollars per night, according to Reuters, spelling an issue for poorer nations.

The government has also been criticised for ramping up oil drilling licensing, with Brazil set to become a top global producer of oil in five years. It approved exploratory drilling by the state-run oil giant Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon just a couple of weeks ago, before the conference started.

As the largest tropical forest in the world, the Amazon soaks up masses of plant-warming greenhouse gases, making it crucial in the fight against climate change.

In hosting COP, Brazil hopes it will highlight the importance of protecting this ecosystem.

In this month's COP 30, some 40,000 world leaders, scientists, campaigners, and negotiators from some 190 countries, who agree on collective next steps to combat climate change, are attending.

Prince William and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are attending, whose presence, the PM's spokesperson said, was part of efforts to restore the UK as "a global leader for climate action and green growth", calling net zero the "economic opportunity of the 21st century" that could "create jobs for the future".               

But the leaders of the three worst burners of fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal, the main cause of climate change: China, India and the United States are not attending.

There was no surprise in US President Donald Trump not turning up, as he calls climate change a "con job" and a hoax.

As a small Pacific country which, along with other small countries, is the main victim of climate change, it must condemn in the strongest terms possible the attitude of Trump and his cohorts.

Manuia le aso Sa ma le vaiaso fou.