The article highlights the development and justice implications of climate change for small island developing states (SIDS), in the wake of Hurricane Melissa's devastating impacts on Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba. In the article, Rhiney talks about the huge shortfall in available climate financing support for SIDS and other developing countries that are at the frontlines of ongoing climate change impacts, including extreme events such as Hurricane Melissa. Loss and damage - the unavoidable negative impacts of climate change - are critically important for SIDS because they face disproportionate and devastating impacts from climate change, which can severely hamper economic growth, increase debt and jeopardize critical sustainable development goals. Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in recorded history, has left a trail of devastation across the Caribbean. While the full scale of Hurricane Melissa's impacts are still unknown, preliminary estimates suggest economic losses in Jamaica totaling USD$6-7 billion, equivalent to 30% of the country's GDP, with 45 confirmed deaths and more than 30,000 households displaced by the storm.
Read the article at the following link: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/nov/15/hurricane-melissa-a-real-time-case-study-of-colonialisms-legacies?CMP=share_btn_url
Aerial image courtesy of the NY Times