Small Island Developing States have received only around three percent of global climate finance despite the US$100 billion climate finance goal being achieved for three consecutive years.
Minister for Information, Environment and Climate Change Lynda Tabuya highlighted this while speaking at a ministerial session on Climate Finance Needs of Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries at COP31 in Turkey.
Tabuya says adaptation finance accounted for just 28 percent of the total, raising concerns about the funding reaching countries and communities most vulnerable to climate change.
She says increasing climate finance alone is not enough if vulnerable countries and communities continue to face barriers in accessing it.
Tabuya is calling on development partners, multilateral development banks and climate funds to simplify requirements, speed up approvals and prioritise grant-based financing.
She stresses that communities on the frontline of climate change cannot afford to wait for finance to reach them.
The Minister says without fixing access, increasing the finance available will not necessarily translate into more solutions on the ground for communities.
Tabuya also highlighted the Pacific Resilience Facility, the first Pacific-led, member-owned regional financing facility, established to channel predictable financing to frontline communities.
She says communities need access to support for coastal protection, water security, food systems and resilience.
Tabuya also warned that the combination of global warming and an unprecedented El Niño event was providing a glimpse of the climate challenges ahead if the world failed to take the necessary action to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius target within reach.
