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Senator Liz Thompson highlights the dangers small island states face due to a declining global order and urges Caribbean unity for fair financing amid the escalating climate crisis.
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Originally published by barbadostoday.bb (opens in new tab)

Senior lawmaker and diplomat Senator Liz Thompson has warned that a fraying global order and retreating donor support are leaving small island states exposed, as she urged the Caribbean to unite, assert its interests and press for fair financing while the climate crisis intensifies.
In her assessment of the shifting global geopolitical landscape, the vice-president of the Senate and former United Nations assistant secretary general and special adviser on sustainable development urged small island developing states (SIDS) to reject external dependencies and fiercely advocate for financial justice in the face of escalating climate disasters.
Addressing an audience of regional delegates and civil society organisations, Thompson warned that the international community is rapidly abandoning its commitment to multilateralism, replacing a rules-based system with a “power-driven order” that prioritises the mighty over the vulnerable.
Thompson’s address painted a stark picture of a fragmenting global democracy, highlighting a distinct lack of empathy from traditional donor nations. Prominent funds designed to assist developing countries with climate impacts have stagnated, leaving frontline states of the Caribbean to bear catastrophic economic burdens alone.
“We are facing a new world order,” Thompson declared. “Symbols and behaviours of leadership that we previously thought were standard, settled, and entrenched have been upended. The rules-based order with which we identify is being replaced by a power-driven order. It is the rule of the mighty over the minnow.”
The senator pointed to the global Loss and Damage Fund as a prime example of international failure. Established to help developing nations cope with climate devastation, the fund currently sits at less than $800m after three years. By comparison, Jamaica alone suffered a staggering $12bn (JM$1.67tn) in damages from Hurricane Beryl.
The speech also highlighted an alarming trend of wealthy nations actively retreating from environmental commitments. While official development assistance from the OECD fell by seven per cent in 2025, major global powers have signalled intent to slash development spending, with some even attempting to halt climate-related lending entirely.
“Alliances have become far more fluid. Loyalty has no particular meaning,” Senator Thompson remarked. “Empathy for the weak and the vulnerable is not a priority. In fact, in many instances, it is not a consideration at all.”
The address heavily emphasised that climate change is not a future projection for the Caribbean, but a current, mathematically undeniable crisis. To illustrate her point, Thompson provided a stark breakdown of extreme weather data, noting that while the region saw four category 5 hurricanes between 1960 and 1980, and another four between 1980 and 2000, it has been battered by eight category 5 storms in just the seven years between 2018 and 2025.
“That’s the reality, that’s it, those are the facts. That is the data,” Senator Thompson noted, emphasising that these statistics represent a severe human toll—displaced families, high emotional stress on women, and wiped-out livelihoods. Past hurricanes have obliterated 225 per cent of Dominica’s GDP and 65% of the Bahamas’ GDP in a matter of hours.
Adding insult to injury, the global financial system continues to penalise the victims. While nations responsible for the majority of global emissions secure sovereign loans at interest rates as low as three per cent, Latin America and the Caribbean face rates of seven per cent and Africa faces upward of 9.8 per cent.
“Those who are creating the climate crisis get the best rates from the marketplace,” Senator Thompson said, “but those who are in the throes of the crisis, those who are being held in the tentacles of climate change, pay the highest costs for loans to address climate impacts.”
To counter these systemic inequities, she championed the Bridgetown Initiative as a prime example of regional intellectual capability, proving the Caribbean can engineer its own financial and developmental frameworks without relying on charity.
“We don’t need aid, what we need is opportunity and equity and justice,” she said. “And if you give that to us, we can fight for the rest because we’ve done it all our lives.”
The official insisted that regional leaders must remain present and vocal on the international stage, backed by rigorous data rather than mere anecdotes. She warned against internal divisions, noting that “divide and conquer has always worked with our people”, and urged the region to get wise to that reality.
Ending her remarks with an invocation of Shakespeare, she compared the region’s current crisis to a critical high tide that must be ridden to fortune, lest the civilisation’s future be bound in miseries.
“We can let the tide carry us wherever it wants. We can let others push us wherever they want, or we can choose to be craftsmen of our fate,” Senator Thompson said. “We can choose to be creators of our solutions. We can choose to be a Caribbean civilisation at its best. The choice really is ours.”
(RR)