OCEANIA Climate crisis and debt, the Pacific asks for help

A report presented by Caritas Oceania on the day dedicated to San Francisco analyzes the combination of climate change and public debt. Island countries in the region are calling on high-income countries to help build the resilience needed to protect local communities. They would need at least a billion dollars a year: today they receive half.

Port Moresby () – The disasters caused by climate change added to the debt crisis risk generating unprecedented economic instability in the Pacific region, Caritas Oceania and Jubilee Australia Research explained yesterday at a press conference. Center, who jointly published the first report that analyzes in detail the problems of the combination of climate and financial crises in the Pacific countries.

The archipelagos of the region are exposed to rising sea levels, increasingly stronger and more frequent cyclones, and tides that have a devastating environmental impact. These are extreme events that force small Pacific island countries to take out loans to repair the damage, thus fueling the debt trap.

The report, released on Saint Francis of Assisi Day and titled “Twin Clouds on the Horizon: Averting a Combined Climate and Debt Crisis in the Pacific through Locally Spent Climate Finance,” calls on the international community to take action on the climate debt. The document argues that the money must go directly into the hands of those who need it most, and it is also necessary to restructure debt, improve climate financing and subsidize resilience practices against environmental damage.

“We are at a very critical time for building climate resilience, especially in the Pacific, which faces existential threats. The world must accept the challenge to see and listen with attentive eyes and ears to the fight of those on the front lines against climate change, and to have the courage to act in solidarity,” said Card. Soane Patita Paini Mafi, regional president of Caritas Oceania.

“Seven Pacific countries, including Papua New Guinea, are already at risk of disproportionately increasing debt. Look at what happened in Vanuatu, where public debt more than doubled after Cyclone Pam in 2015, due to repair costs and reconstruction. We need adequate funding to protect our communities from climate change without further aggravating the debt burden that already exists,” added Mavis Tito, director of Caritas Papua New Guinea.

“Financing climate resilience basically corresponds to the payment of a debt that the countries that have caused the most climate change have with those that suffer its worst effects. High-income countries have been avoiding paying this debt for years,” said Luke Fletcher, CEO of Jubilee Australia.

The recommendations of the report will be included in the declaration that the Pacific countries will present at COP27. They also call for $1 billion in annual funding to be guaranteed to cover the costs of climate adaptation. Currently the islands of the region receive half of this sum for the development of climate resilience.