At a high-level side event on Building Climate Resilience through Debt Reform, Infrastructure Investment, and Private Sector Action held at COP30 in Belém, Ambassador for Climate Change for Antigua and Barbuda, Ruleta Camacho Thomas delivered a strong message on behalf of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, calling for systemic financial reform to enable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to achieve climate-resilient prosperity.
Ambassador Camacho Thomas highlighted that for SIDS, debt is not a technical issue but an existential one.
“Despite contributing less than one percent of global emissions, small island nations remain among the most climate-vulnerable in the world. Every storm, every hurricane, every drought pushes us further into debt as we are forced to rebuild what climate impacts destroy,” she said. “Debt has become the default response to disaster, trapping our countries in a cycle where recovery is always outpaced by the next crisis.”
With over 40 percent of SIDS currently in or near debt distress, many spend more on debt servicing than on health, education, or adaptation. Ambassador Camacho Thomas emphasized that the global financial system must be redesigned to reflect climate realities and to provide fiscal space for sustainable development.
She explained that the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) – adopted as the SIDS Development Strategy for the next 10 years – sets out a clear framework to align debt reform, resilience, and sustainable growth across all small island states.
A key element of ABAS implementation is the Debt Sustainability Support Service (DSSS), established as a pillar of the Centre of Excellence for SIDS. The DSSS provides an integrated framework that links debt reform, climate resilience, and access to finance, supporting countries to:
- Implement debt swaps, restructuring, and climate-contingent clauses that create fiscal space when disasters strike;
- Build risk-layered protection systems through insurance and reserves; and
- Channel savings from debt relief into resilient infrastructure and climate-aligned growth.
“The DSSS is not another fund,” Ambassador Camacho Thomas explained. “It is a coordination mechanism that connects existing tools, institutions, and financial flows. It transforms the way the financial system treats vulnerable economies and makes financial flows consistent with a pathway toward climate-resilient development.”
She underscored that debt sustainability and climate resilience are two sides of the same coin, and that reforms such as the DSSS are essential for SIDS to develop, grow, and achieve resilient prosperity.
Antigua and Barbuda is working with partners across SIDS, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and fragile states to operationalise the DSSS so as to, provide access to technical expertise, supporting fairer negotiations, and ensuring that debt relief is translated into concrete resilience investments.
Ambassador Camacho Thomas urged development banks, donors, rating agencies, and private investors to prioritise climate finance for debt and resilience reform.
“Resilience must begin with fiscal and financial stability,” she concluded. “The DSSS provides a pathway to achieve both—aligning debt reform with the fight for climate justice. For small islands, this is not about economics alone; it is about survival, dignity, and the right to a sustainable future. The DSSS offers a means to secure that future—not through charity, but through fairness and reform.”
