Small island states sink, drowned by sea and debt

He General secretary warns from the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) held in Antigua, that the 39 nations that make up that group have been especially vulnerable to COVID, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and climate change.

International financing is the fuel for sustainable development, but small island states are “running empty,” drowning in debt and rising sea levels due to climate change that is not their fault, said António Guterres.

The official made that warning on the second day of SIDS4, which is being held this week in Antigua and Barbuda, a twin island in the Caribbean.

Small Island Developing States are paying more to service their own debt than they invest in health and educationsaid the UN leader, leaving these nations unable to make the investments they need to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Many of them are classified as middle income, which excludes them from the debt support reserved for the poorest nations.

Vulnerability index

These States “are doing everything they can,” the Secretary-General continued, noting Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s advocacy for developing a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index that “truly reflects” the needs of such nations.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has also spearheaded the Bridgetown Initiative to transform lending and provide inclusive and resilient financing. The Pacific nation of Samoa has led the Alliance of Small Island States’ initiative to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund and fairly compensate vulnerable nations for the impact of corrosive climate change.

“You are leading by example,” Guterres told delegates representing island nations gathered in Antigua, “but too often you are faced with behind closed doors, from institutions and systems whose creation you had nothing to do.”

Three point action plan

He continued his speech by outlining the vital action on three fronts that is necessary from international financial institutions, in addition to an immediate stimulus of the Development Goals for SIDS:

• Ease the debt burden by providing access to effective relief mechanisms, including payment breaks in times of economic volatility
• Transform lending practices by changing concessional financing rules to reduce borrowing costs. Guterres added that the UN Multidimensional Vulnerability Index could play an important role in this regard.
• Greater inclusion in international financial institutions, with SIDS having a seat “at all the tables”

The current global financial architecture does not benefit developing countries in general, nor Small States, in particular, he lamented.

In conclusion, he pointed to the Future Summit to be held in September in New York, which will offer a unique opportunity for world leaders to advance the SIDS action agenda.

“It is time to turn the tables and create a global financial future that leaves no island nation behind”he concluded.

An almost closed opportunity

Prime Minister of Samoa and Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, warned at the resource mobilization meeting that “the longer the crisis, the greater the impact on national responses, with implications for detrimental effects.” sustained.”

He laid out the extent of the debt crisis: “The simple truth is that there is not enough money to take us far enough. What we have access to is insufficient and too expensive at best (…) The window we so often talk about is not closing, it is almost closed”.

Bold rhetoric and promises from developed nations have not materialized in the form of aid, he added, stating that SIDS need “tailored solutions” that must be “inclusive, fair and responsive.”

European financing gateway

Projecting the Team Europe Strategy in the Antigua room, the European Commission’s Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, welcomed the vulnerability index proposed by the UN, stating: “and we hope that it will be approved so that all development institutions use it.”

He stated that, within the framework of the Global Gateway Strategy, EU States and institutions intended to mobilize €300 billion in public and private investments by 2027 for all vulnerable countries, with many initiatives already underway in the SIDS. .

The commissioner added that Team Europe was also leading the way with a €400 million commitment to the Loss and Damage Fund agreed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28.

“We have to ensure that the international financial architecture adapts to the objectives. It is key to guarantee more stable, equitable and affordable access to liquidity.”

Home truths

In a more intimate format, some of the conference’s top leaders laid out their hopes for the next decade.

Hilda Heine, president of the Marshall Islands, said there had to be a radical change in political will, especially by the most developed G20 nations, to reduce carbon emissions. He added that he could imagine a future where islands are protected by nature-based solutions with education and health systems prepared for any impacts that occur.

But nothing could happen without a “significant increase in funding.”

lazy metric

Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados firmly said that using the per capita income of any fragile island nation to determine eligibility for sustainable development finance was “futile”, and equivalent to using a blood pressure reading from years ago to diagnose a current heart condition.

He warned that if economists and the international financial system continue to use this inappropriate “lazy metric,” it will mean that They do not see us, they do not hear us and they are prepared to generate a situation in which climate migration will be the future [para los SIDS] because we will not be able to survive on our islands if we have to choose.

“You cannot finance education and health with 15-year loans.”

World citizen

At the conclusion of the meeting, Guterres made an impassioned intervention “as a citizen of the world,” removing his Secretary-General sign from the table in front of him.

“There are many positive things that have been done” so far, he said, “but when we see these challenges that move at the speed of a Formula 1 car and when we see the improvements in the actions to face these challenges, it reminds me of the speed of a Trabantthat was a car I saw in the 70s in East Germany.”

What is needed now is that international institutions to be “better, bolder and bigger at the same time”Guterres said.

Those institutions today are “too small,” he added, and called for a significant increase in the capital available to support Small Island States and other nations in need.

“Let’s make SIDS a real priority in everything we do,” he said, banging the table for emphasis.