United Nations, Sep 27 (IANS) Developing countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific have demanded an overhaul of global lending and climate-finance rules, saying the present system forces vulnerable nations to borrow repeatedly to repair damage they did little to cause.
The calls during the UN General Assembly debate linked climate disasters, rising debt and stalled development to an international financial system that speakers said no longer reflected the needs of the Global South.
Cameroon Foreign Minister Mbella Mbella said resources for development were available but remained difficult for poorer countries to access.
“This means reforming the international financial architecture to give countries of the Global South a fair shot,” he said.
Cameroon also called for the implementation of previous commitments on financing for development as the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals approached.
Samoa demanded climate financing that was larger, easier to access and free from burdensome conditions.
“No nation should have to borrow its way out a crisis it did so little to create,” Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mulipola Anarosa Ale Molioo said.
The existing financial architecture did not account for the circumstances of small island developing states, she said. Samoa sought a stronger debt-restructuring system and the use of a multidimensional vulnerability index in lending decisions.
Such an index would measure exposure to climate shocks and other structural risks instead of relying mainly on per capita income.
Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip Pierre said climate change threatened national security, economic stability, food supplies, water and human survival. His country contributed little to global emissions but repeatedly had to finance recovery from climate-related destruction.
“Climate finance is not charity,” Pierre said. “It is about justice, responsibility, and survival.”
Loans could not be considered justice when vulnerable countries were compelled to borrow to repair damage they did not cause, he said.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines issued a similar warning. Prime Minister Godwin Friday described climate change as a recurring financial emergency rather than a distant risk.
Small states could not continue borrowing merely to replace infrastructure repeatedly destroyed by disasters, he said.
“We cannot continue to walk up the down escalator, pretending it is development,” Friday said.
He called for concessional finance to be based on actual climate exposure and countries’ capacity to respond, rather than income classifications that could exclude vulnerable island economies.
South Africa widened the argument to include debt payments across the African continent.
Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said many governments were being forced to choose between meeting the needs of their citizens and satisfying creditors. African countries had spent roughly as much servicing debt over the past year as was required to close the continent’s infrastructure financing gap, he said.
Climate responses were “severely constrained by a climate finance architecture stacked against developing nations”, Lamola said.
Jamaica offered an example of how a single disaster could overwhelm careful national planning.
Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said Hurricane Melissa in October 2025 caused damage and losses estimated at 56.7 per cent of Jamaica’s annual economic output.
“One hurricane can still erase decades of progress,” she said, calling for climate finance that was more accessible, affordable and predictable.
Multilateral lenders have faced growing demands to expand development and climate financing, provide quicker assistance after disasters and consider vulnerability alongside national income. Small island states argue that income-based classifications can conceal their exposure to catastrophic losses.
India used its G20 presidency in 2023 to advance discussions on reforming multilateral development banks and increasing their capacity to finance development and climate priorities.
The UN appeals echo India’s wider call for international financial institutions to give developing countries a stronger voice and greater access to capital.
–IANS
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