The oceans are scattered with small islands, dots on the world map that have too often been ignored. Yet they are home to sixty-five million people. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the countries that are under the greatest threat from the multiple crises that the world is facing today, particularly the climate emergency and the wave of debt in which many countries in the Global South are drowning.

The sustainable development of SIDS is constantly jeopardised by their structural weaknesses, including their small size, remoteness, reduced resource base, exposure to adverse climate events and limited diversification of the economy.

Together with the Covid-19 shock, global inflation and spillovers of the war in Ukraine, these multiple crises and vulnerabilities are not only threatening the stability of the SIDS’ economies and harming the wellbeing of their people, but have also resulted in greater exposure to public debt problems. This report looks at the twin challenges of debt and climate change facing SIDS and suggests calls to action to help tackle these challenges.

Click here to read the press release

Click here to read the executive summary

Read the report in Spanish