Jamaican PM calls for climate action to save small island developing states

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness today underscored the need for action on climate change to ensure the survival of small island developing states (SIDS).

“Climate change poses an immediate existential threat to small island developing states like Jamaica,” Holness told the general debate at the UN General Assembly, noting that a single climate event could wipe out a small island developing state’s economy entirely in a heartbeat.

“Concerted action to slow and halt the rise in global temperature is literally what our survival depends on. While we will continue to build our resilience and play our role in mitigating climate change, we cannot change the course of the situation on our own,” he said.

Jamaica looks forward to convening the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt later this year.

In turn, it calls on all countries to meet their commitments and contributions to climate goals and calls on the developed world to increase its climate finance obligations and ambitions, particularly regarding adaptation, loss, and damage.

“Jamaica believes a comprehensive and targeted approach to accessing development finance is needed.

“We eagerly anticipate an era of truly equitable access to concessional and other financial support that will enable us to invest in resilient infrastructure and build fiscal buffers to withstand and recover quickly from the next economic, health, or climate shock with little borrowing,” he stressed.

The prime minister also warned that if a vulnerability is not recognized as a principle in providing access to finance, SIDS will continue to struggle and will not be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

With information from Xinhuanet

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