In late June, Category 5 Hurricane Beryl hit parts of the Caribbean and Gulf Coast region, causing devastation to island nations and leaving thousands without safe homes. For Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the damage has contributed to already-fragile debt sustainability challenges and there are fears that climate change could only worsen these kinds of events.
Highlighting these issues has been the global affairs think tank, ODI, as part of their Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative, co-directed by Sheffield Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Matthew Bishop.
Their recent project, ‘Breaking the Cycle of Debt’, explores such challenges – demonstrating that high debt burdens in SIDS generally result from the enormous cost of climate-related shocks, rather than wasteful government spending. This has prompted calls for a support package to echo the post-war assistance the USA offered to Europe for economic and political recovery.
The idea for this new support package builds on Bishop’s work alongside RESI Co-Director Emily Wilkinson, Antigua and Barbuda's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Tumasie Blair, and UN Senior Advisor Simona Marinescu.
The project has now coordinated an open letter to David Lammy, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, calling for immediate debt cancellation in the event of a disaster such as Hurricane Beryl.
The three prime ministers from Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada were among the signatories of the letter, alongside other politicians, diplomats and senior academics.
In an article for The Conversation co-written by Bishop, the worsening impact of climate change is emphasised as of particular concern to island states.
As a group, the world’s 57 “small island developing states”, about half of which are found in the Caribbean, contribute less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet our research finds these island states collectively experience yearly economic losses of at least US$1.7 billion due to climate change.
Debt-disaster-debt: hurricane-damaged islands are being saddled with loans they cannot afford, The Conversation
The open letter calls on the recently elected Labour government to take an “immediate opportunity to make a positive global impact” in the form of increased support for island nations. Requests include debt restructuring, green and resilient infrastructure development and diversification, and improved access to climate funds.