During the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) urged world leaders to prioritise the Debt Sustainability Support Service (DSSS) as a concrete response to the unique challenges facing the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), describing it as essential for the survival and development of vulnerable island nations.
“Small Island Developing States stand at the frontlines of multiple cascading crises: climate, economic, environmental, and debt,” the AOSIS stated.
“Time and again, we are forced to borrow in the aftermath of crises we did not create, driving us deeper into unsustainable debt. This cycle cannot continue.
“Despite our negligible contributions to global emissions, SIDS are forced to shoulder the compounded burden of climate-induced disasters, economic shocks, and mounting debt that threaten our development aspirations.”
Highlighting the acute vulnerability of SIDS economies, which are small, reliant on external markets, and increasingly exposed to global volatility, the AOSIS said the DSSS was designed as a “concrete and innovative mechanism tailored to the realities of SIDS because it is built by SIDS, for SIDS” to “provide predictable, scaled, and responsive support for debt sustainability, with a focus on building resilience and preserving fiscal space for sustainable development.”
The alliance emphasised that the existing global debt architecture has failed small islands, calling it “fragmented, slow to respond, and fundamentally misaligned with the risk profiles and development trajectories of our small vulnerable economies.”
AOSIS emphasised that the DSSS must be “rooted in principles of equity, climate justice, and the recognition that SIDS need dedicated solutions beyond traditional frameworks.”
AOSIS outlined four priorities to advance the DSSS:
– The DSSS must be embedded as a central pillar of the suite of solutions available to SIDS across the international financial architecture and within international financial institutions as a key stakeholder in tackling the interconnected challenges of climate, debt, and sustainable development.
– The DSSS will be accessible and adaptable, reaching every small island developing state offering tailored support that fit their specific needs, regardless of income level.
– Operationalisation will hinge on a robust coalition of partners, from the multilateral development banks to legal experts to the private sector. Their contributions to the components of the DSSS will strengthen its innovation, expertise and capacity to deliver.
– The need for a core cohort of political, institutional, and financial champions to advocate for and drive implementation of the DSSS across the regions.
AOSIS called on all international partners to make the operationalisation of the DSSS a priority outcome of the Compromiso de Sevilla, noting that it represents a critical next step following the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS.
“Let us turn this call into action. Let us move from principles to practice,” AOSIS urged. “Let us now build upon it with urgency, resolve, and solidarity, said AOSIS.
