Antigua and Barbuda Pushes for Global Debt Reform to Protect SIDS at COP30 High-Level Event

Excerpt from antigua.news

Antigua and Barbuda delivered a powerful call for systemic global financial reform at a high-level side event during the COP30 Climate Summit in Belém, Brazil, emphasizing that the survival of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) depends on urgent action.

Her Excellency Ruleta Camacho Thomas, Ambassador for Climate Change, represented the country at the event titled “Building Climate Resilience through Debt Reform, Infrastructure Investment, and Private Sector Action.” In her address, she underscored that for SIDS, debt is not merely an economic challenge — it is an existential threat.

“Despite contributing less than one percent of global emissions, small island nations remain among the most climate-vulnerable in the world,” Ambassador Camacho Thomas said. “Every storm, every hurricane, every drought pushes us further into debt as we are forced to rebuild what climate impacts destroy. Debt has become the default response to disaster, trapping our countries in a cycle where recovery is always outpaced by the next crisis.”