• AOSIS Climate Change Team Newsletter – July 2024
Message from the Chair of AOSIS
H.E. Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru

Talofa reader,
Firstly, on behalf of the Chair’s team of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), I extend my heartfelt sympathies to our brethren and sistren in the Caribbean who once again fell victim to brutal storm impacts. Hurricane Beryl barrelled through the region, decimating homes, businesses, and heritage sites particularly in the Grenadian islands of Carriacou, Petit Martinique, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. St. Vincent and the Grenadines has so far recorded 11 deaths. Loss and damage has not yet been adequately assessed but predictions state economic loss caused by the hurricane could total more than $1 billion.

It is imperative to note that this hurricane was unprecedented – a word I know we are all weary of using in relation to the climate change impacts we are forced to endure. Hurricane Beryl was the earliest Category 3, then 4, Atlantic storm ever recorded.

This phenomenon of ever-increasingly severe and catastrophic climate events highlights the urgent need for climate finance and sadly delineates what we inhabitants of small island states have been voicing to the international community for decades. Every single tonne of carbon that is pumped into our world’s atmosphere is another nail in the coffin of the most vulnerable people and ecosystems.

This must not be a moment of despair. This must galvanise us, and bolster our determination and fighting spirit to demand nothing less than what our people deserve.

Some progress has been made at the Bonn Climate Conference, SB60, and I wish to sincerely thank all of our tireless coordinators for their invaluable work. I note that we must push for more substantial outcomes on operationalising the outcomes of the Global Stocktake and certainly on the Mitigation Work Programme. As we advance towards the UNGA 79 and COP29 – the so-called “Climate Finance COP” – let us rally every resource and work diligently across the table to secure the strong outcomes we dearly need.

Additionally, I wish to congratulate the government of Antigua and Barbuda on a successful execution of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4). The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS has been formally adopted, and if fully implemented, will set the course for the transformative shift that SIDS require to achieve sustainable development.
AOSIS also applauds Prime Minister Gaston Browne and his team on their integral role on the UN’s milestone agreement to adopt the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index.

Friends, let us take heart in our achievements and the inspiring examples of SIDS leadership. The road ahead to COP29 will not be easy. The stakes are indeed high – but I am absolutely confident that we will all rise together to surmount the challenge.