At the SIDS4, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne emphasised that small island developing states in the world are currently facing a series of crises. Among them, the most urgent threat is natural disasters caused by climate change. Struggling to cope with growing debts and rising sea levels, developing island nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific share common characteristics that lead to vulnerability to shocks from outside.
These are all small areas with scattered and isolated populations, with economies heavily dependent on imports. Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that an extreme weather event can also set back the development of a small island by 5 to 10 years.
Finance is always of concern in climate negotiations, because promoting climate action can only be achieved when countries have sufficient financial resources. The SIDS4 sent a message of solidarity, calling on countries to join hands to solve the thorny issue of climate finance.
At the conference, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres affirmed that small island states have the right to request more financial provision from the Loss and Damage Fund - a tool to support countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
According to analysts, most small island nations are classified as middle-income countries or above. This means they cannot access international aid and preferential financial resources for the world’s poorest countries. UNDP estimates that small island developing states need from 4.7 to 7.3 billion USD per year just to adapt to climate change.
The debt burden also hinders these countries in achieving development goals, including climate goals. The United Nations estimates that these island nations will have to spend up to 15.9% of government income to pay loan interest in 2024.
Meanwhile, losses caused by climate change to island nations are increasing. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) believes that, without timely intervention to respond to rising sea levels, low-lying islands such as Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands will gradually be flooded and destroyed.
With rich natural resources and located on strategic maritime routes, island states, especially in the Pacific region, play an increasingly important role in the foreign policies of major countries and have a stronger voice at international forums.
Recently, a group of small island states, including Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu, Palau, Niue, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won a lawsuit related to rising sea levels.
Accordingly, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg (Germany) ruled in favour of this group of small island states. The ruling said that greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the ocean are considered marine pollution and that countries have an obligation to protect the marine environment by implementing committed targets under the Paris Agreement on climate change signed in 2015.
Sharing climate financial responsibility is becoming increasingly difficult for every country, amid an uncertain global economic outlook. But this is a task that cannot be avoided.
As countries on the front lines of coping with the impacts of climate change, island states are urgently calling for the companionship and support of other countries so as not to be left behind in the arduous battle to protect the climate for their own survival.
