Climate & resilience
Island Nations Demand Climate Justice, Fair Funding and Ocean Protection at UN Assembly
Caribbean and Pacific leaders warned that rising seas are reshaping borders and crippling economies, called for climate finance as equity, highlighted massive military spending contrast, and urged stronger ocean and water governance.
Financing climate action as equity
Delegates from Caribbean and Pacific island nations told the assembly that climate change is already eroding livelihoods, undermining food production and threatening freshwater supplies. They argued that the financing system must move beyond charitable assistance and become a matter of equity, with funds delivered quickly and without restrictive conditions. To reflect the true risk profile, they urged the use of the multidimensional vulnerability index, which weighs exposure to extreme weather and sea‑level rise rather than relying solely on gross national income. This approach, they said, would prevent countries that emit little greenhouse gases from repeatedly borrowing to replace destroyed assets.
Ocean jurisdiction and funding gaps
Island representatives highlighted that the ocean is not merely a resource but the core of their cultural and economic identity. Tuvalu, for example, governs roughly 750,000 km² of maritime space while its total land area is just about 26 km², illustrating the disparity between territorial waters and habitable ground. They called for swift progress on the High‑Seas Treaty and for greater investment in Sustainable Development Goal 14, which remains one of the least funded environmental targets. Protecting marine ecosystems, they argued, is essential for fisheries, tourism and the very survival of these low‑lying states.
Security dimensions: defence spending and water
Speakers contrasted the modest levels of climate and development aid with the staggering $2.9 trillion spent worldwide on defence in the previous year, an amount equivalent to sixteen times the total official development assistance. They noted that the same sum could be allocated to climate action in less than three weeks, yet it is distributed over an entire year. In parallel, the discussion turned to water security, with Egypt’s leader describing the Nile as an existential lifeline and Kazakhstan proposing a UN‑backed international water body to improve transboundary governance. Both issues were framed as urgent security challenges.