Prime Minister announces support for Small
Island States at COP26.
The Prime Minister chaired an event with India’s Prime Minister
Modi today to launch the Infrastructure for Resilient Island
States (IRIS) facility, a joint initiative with the Coalition for
Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and Small Island
Developing States (SIDS). They were joined by Prime Minister
Holness of Jamaica, Prime Minister Bainimarama of Fiji, Prime
Minister Jugnauth of Mauritius and Prime Minister Morrison of
Australia.
Small island states are uniquely threatened by climate change and
rising sea levels. Two Pacific islands are at risk of
disappearing by the end of this century, and some communities are
already having to relocate.
The new IRIS fund will support small island states to develop
resilient, sustainable infrastructure that can withstand climate
shocks, protecting lives and livelihoods. The UK will contribute
an initial £10 million to the fund, which will provide targeted
technical assistance.
The UK is also announcing £40 million in overseas aid funding
today for the ‘Small Island Developing State Capacity and
Resilience’ (SIDAR) programme, which will support
capacity-building for small island states to access funding and
technical solutions at scale.
Addressing the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
event this morning, the Prime Minister said:
For some countries and communities at this COP, the
transformation that is happening now is not a matter for our
children and our grandchildren. This is something that is an
existential threat as we sit in Glasgow today.
Last year, 600 bn tonnes of ice melted away in Greenland - all
that water has to go somewhere. And it is incredibly cruel that
these vulnerable small island states are right in the frontline
of the loss and damage that is caused by global warming.
As our friends have said, they have done virtually nothing to
cause the problem. They didn’t cause the huge volumes of Co2 to
be pumped into the atmosphere. So I would encourage every country
that has contributed to pumping Co2 into the air over the last
250 years to join this campaign.
That’s why the $100bn a year commitment is such a crucial part of
the UK’s presidency. We have to help people to adapt, we have to
mitigate, and we have to bend the curve and stop this remorseless
increase in Co2. Because there are people round this room whose
vulnerable populations who have done nothing to deserve it will
be on the frontline and will suffer catastrophic loss and damage.
Small island states in Paris managed to change the ambition and
ensure we didn’t just commit to increasing temperatures to 2
degrees C, but to keep it to 1.5. Because they know what the
difference between 2C and 1.5C means, and it’s the difference for
many people between life and death. And that’s the reality we
have to face.
