BELEM, Brazil — A row over the definition of gender risks complicating the outcome of COP30 climate talks in Brazil, after six governments moved to attach their own interpretations as footnotes to a key text.

Negotiators say the effort — by Paraguay, Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia as well as the Vatican — seeks to block recognition of trans and non-binary people and would set a “harmful precedent” that could seep into other shared decisions taken by the UN’s climate body.

There is “frustration within rooms,” a source close to the matter, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue, said Wednesday. “It’s become a bit ridiculous — we have six footnotes right now; should we have 90?”

“We do not agree at all with what some countries are putt

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