CLIMATE reparations activists rallied in Sharm el-Sheikh at the weekend to demand developed countries pay the costs of addressing global warming.

The rally took place as the Cop27 climate summit in the Egyptian city approached its half-way point.

The activists marched in the conference’s Blue Zone, which is governed by UN rules. Protests elsewhere in Egypt are harder to stage, often meeting police repression, and Germany raised concerns at the weekend at apparent surveillance and intimidation even inside the conference.

Following an event in solidarity with jailed British national Alaa Abd el-Fattah hosted by his sister Sanaa Seif in the German pavilion, attendees at events there have reported being photographed and filmed by anonymous observers.

The German Foreign Ministry said it expected “all participants in the UN climate conference to be able to work and negotiate under safe conditions,” and that it was in “continuous contact” with Egyptian authorities regarding this.

Other protesters have been punished, with Jacob Johns, a member of the Akimelo’otham and Hopi nations in the United States, having his conference access withdrawn after he helped unveil a banner reading People Versus Fuels and heckled US President Joe Biden during a speech on Friday.

The summit faced more grim news as Brazil’s Institute for Special Research reported at the weekend that Amazon deforestation has broken a new record so far in 2022, with 9,994 square kilometres (3,859 square miles) of native vegetation destroyed in the first 10 months of the year.

However, former Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva told the conference that when Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva succeeds Jair Bolsonaro in the new year, Brazil would “be back” when it comes to defence of the natural environment.