Jamaica details Hurricane Melissa damage and pushes for more accessible climate finance

Camina Johnson Smith told the General Assembly that Hurricane Melissa caused catastrophic losses in Jamaica, estimating damage and loss at "56.7% of our GDP," and used the example to argue that small island developing states remain disproportionately vulnerable to extreme climate events.

"In a matter of hours, more than half the value of an entire year of national economic output was damaged or lost," Smith said, stressing that even disciplined fiscal policy and catastrophe financing cannot fully insulate small states from large climate shocks. She listed disaster risk financing measures Jamaica had used, including catastrophe insurance and a privately sponsored catastrophe bond that provided immediate liquidity.

Smith said Jamaica established the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NAR) to coordinate rapid, large-scale reconstruction, embed resilience into infrastructure projects, and crowd in investment. She said Jamaica has updated its nationally determined contribution, completed a long-term low-carbon, climate-resilient strategy and advanced a national adaptation plan, but argued those national ambitions must be matched by international action and by making climate finance more accessible, affordable and predictable.

She urged the international financial architecture to adopt vulnerability measures that go beyond GDP, including multi-dimensional vulnerability indices, so that access to concessional finance reflects true exposure to climate shocks.