Photo: UN Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre. Retrieved from news.un.org
Mr. Guterres visited a project that is helping the Caribbean nation to combat the effects of coastal erosion and rising seas, which are among the impacts of global warming.
While commending the initiative, known as the Georgetown Sea Defense, he underlined the need for greater solidarity and financial support.
“We must have stronger support from the international community – what we call climate justice – which means adequate financing at low cost, quickly decided in order to allow for all these works that we have been seeing to protect the island against the sea and against the floods and storms,” he said.
Responding to a journalist’s question, Mr. Guterres said that SIDS must have quick and easy access to climate finance through the Loss and Damage Fund.
The long-awaited mechanism to help vulnerable countries offset the damage from droughts, floods and other extreme weather caused by climate change finally became operational at the UN COP28 climate conference in Dubai last year.