Leaders from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific want financing to reflect climate vulnerability as well as income, while calling for easier access to development funds….reports Africa Daily News Desk
Developing countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific have called for an overhaul of the global financial system, arguing that existing lending and climate finance arrangements leave vulnerable nations repeatedly borrowing to recover from disasters.
The issue emerged repeatedly during the UN General Assembly debate, where leaders linked climate disasters, rising debt and stalled development to an international financial system they said did not adequately reflect the circumstances of developing countries.
Cameroon Foreign Minister Mbella Mbella said resources for development were available but remained difficult for poorer countries to access.
“This means reforming the international financial architecture to give countries of the Global South a fair shot,” he said.
Cameroon also called for earlier commitments on development financing to be implemented as the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals approaches.
Samoa called for climate finance that is larger, easier to access and less burdened by conditions. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mulipola Anarosa Ale Molioo said vulnerable countries should not have to repeatedly borrow to recover from climate related damage.
“No nation should have to borrow its way out a crisis it did so little to create,” she said.
Molioo said the existing financial architecture did not adequately account for the particular circumstances of small island developing states. Samoa called for stronger debt restructuring mechanisms and greater use of a multidimensional vulnerability index when lending decisions are made.
Such an index would take into account exposure to climate shocks and other structural risks, rather than relying largely on per capita income.
Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip Pierre said climate change posed threats to national security, economic stability, food supplies, water resources and human survival.
He said Saint Lucia had contributed little to global emissions but repeatedly faced the financial burden of recovering from climate related destruction.
“Climate finance is not charity,” Pierre said. “It is about justice, responsibility, and survival.”
He argued that loans could not be viewed as justice when vulnerable countries were forced to borrow to repair damage they had not caused.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines issued a similar warning, with Prime Minister Godwin Friday describing climate change as a recurring financial emergency rather than a distant threat.
Small states could not continue borrowing to rebuild infrastructure repeatedly destroyed by disasters, he said.
“We cannot continue to walk up the down escalator, pretending it is development,” Friday said.
He called for concessional finance to take account of countries’ actual climate exposure and their ability to respond, rather than relying on income classifications that could leave vulnerable island economies excluded from favourable financing.
South Africa broadened the discussion to debt servicing across Africa. Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said governments in many African countries were being forced to choose between meeting the needs of their populations and servicing creditors.
African countries had spent roughly as much on debt servicing over the previous year as the amount needed to close the continent’s infrastructure financing gap, he said.
Lamola said developing countries’ ability to respond to climate change was “severely constrained by a climate finance architecture stacked against developing nations”.
Jamaica provided another example of the financial impact of major disasters. Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said Hurricane Melissa in October 2025 caused damage and losses estimated at 56.7 per cent of Jamaica’s annual economic output.
“One hurricane can still erase decades of progress,” she said, calling for climate finance that was more accessible, affordable and predictable.
The demands come amid wider calls for multilateral development banks to expand development and climate financing, provide faster support after disasters and consider vulnerability alongside national income when determining access to finance.
Small island developing states have particularly argued that income based classifications can fail to capture their exposure to catastrophic climate related losses.
India used its G20 presidency in 2023 to advance discussions on reforming multilateral development banks and expanding their capacity to finance development and climate priorities.
The calls at the UN General Assembly also echo India’s broader position that international financial institutions should give developing countries a greater voice and improve their access to capital.
