Antigua and Barbuda represented at High-Level side event at COP30 in Brazil

At a high-level side event on Building Climate Resilience through Debt Reform, Infrastructure Investment, and Private Sector Action held at COP30 in Belém, Her Excellency Ruleta Camacho Thomas, Ambassador for Climate Change for Antigua and Barbuda, 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.”

More in the ABS Evening News at 7.