Image Source: retrieved from orfonline.org
Of the G20 countries, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, the US, China, Brazil, and certain EU countries (Netherlands, France, and Italy) have significant populations on their small islands. Small islands refer to “islands with at least 1.5 million population”.
The small islands’ often-distant location from the mainland and unique topographies have resulted in somewhat varied economic growth levels compared to the countries, primarily in states with low GNI per capita, such as Indonesia, India, Brazil, and Mexico. As such, in addition to climate change impacts, these small islands must also confront challenges such as limited economic activity and the dearth of investments.
China, the US, India, Russia, and Japan—all G20 countries—are the top five carbon emitters globally, contributing to 56 percent of global carbon emissions. As such, the G20 must act on this issue. Climate change is predicted to result in a global rise in sea levels in the coming century. Coastal areas, including small islands, will be severely impacted.
The interests of the small islands within the G20 countries need to be better represented in terms of their funding needs to tackle climate-related events. The G20 must establish a facility to allocate finance fairly to these prioritised areas within the grouping.
The projected global mean sea level is about 0.43-0.84 m by 2100 relative to 1986-2005 levels. This will depend on significant local and regional variations and warming scenarios. Figure 2 indicates that the urban atoll islands with relatively lower GNI than the resource-rich coastal cities will have considerable additional risk due to sea-level rise.