(The post that didn’t get posted when the wifi was down!)

Holding the COP this year in Belem, known as the capital of the Amazon, concentrates the mind on the 71% of the world that is water. Let’s be honest, this place is wet! Belem is surrounded by tropical rainforest and where there isn’t forest there is river, wetlands and sea.

Union reps began arriving last night and this morning, all with various tales of long flights and elusive hunts for their accommodation (my taxi driver took over an hour to find the street which doesn’t actually appear on any map). So it was with relief that I “found” both Tracey, my colleague from UNISON and Sifiso (above) from ZIMTA (Zimbabwe Teachers’ Union), Zimbabwe.

The COP itself properly starts tomorrow so today was orientation day, and I think it was the water that left the biggest impression with me.

The city park, where the event is located, has extensive areas of water in amongst palms. Here there were black swans and great egrets and after every shower, deep puddles in the grass. The weather is a constant 30 with extreme humidity and every afternoon the heavens open and the rain that falls is something else!! Here’s what happened to the drain just outside the self-service canteen:

Meanwhile the Blue Zone of the COP began to leak, rather like a camping holiday in the Lake District. The corrugated roofs were deafening! And ditches at the sides of the pavements filled with deep rainwater; crossing roads is like the steeplechase! In the Green Zone, a whole corridor was taped off and volunteers went backwards and forwards with mop buckets.

The humidity rises after the rain so we get still hotter and within 20 minutes the ground is dry, the birds are singing (songs I haven’t heard before) and we go looking for somewhere to top up our water bottles again. You can’t drink out of the taps here, even if you boil it first. This means for the first time in years I’ve bought water in plastic bottles. As with all COPs, the queues for coffee and food are loooooooong…

But our favourite meeting spot is under the “big balloon” which serves to remind us all of our wonderful watery planet!

Let’s wait and see what the world decides to do to save it…