{"id":202496,"date":"2024-05-20T20:59:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T00:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=202496"},"modified":"2024-05-20T20:59:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T00:59:26","slug":"antigua-and-barbuda-was-making-great-strides-as-one-of-the-caribbeans-more-prosperous-nations-then-hurricane-irma-struck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antigua-and-barbuda-was-making-great-strides-as-one-of-the-caribbeans-more-prosperous-nations-then-hurricane-irma-struck\/","title":{"rendered":"Antigua\u00a0and Barbuda was making great strides as one of the Caribbean’s more prosperous nations…Then\u00a0Hurricane Irma\u00a0struck"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aid rules shake-up offers hope to climate-threatened small islands<\/strong><\/p>

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SOURCE: https:\/\/www.devex.com\/-<\/em><\/strong> Antigua\u00a0and Barbuda was making great strides as one of the Caribbean’s more prosperous nations and poised to become \u201chigh income,\u201d officially\u00a0no longer in need<\/a>\u00a0of development assistance. Then\u00a0Hurricane Irma<\/a>\u00a0struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A comprehensive look at the day\u2019s top global development breaking news, analysis, and opinionSubscribe<\/p>

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Category 5 winds reaching 180mph lashed Barbuda, damaging some 90% of structures and triggering the evacuation of all 1,800 residents to cramped shelters on its larger sister island. A \u201cmammoth task\u201d of reconstruction was required.<\/p>

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Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria<\/a> inflicted similar devastation on nearby Dominica, wiping out the equivalent of 226% of its gross domestic product in a country classed as \u201cupper-middle-income\u201d and therefore with limited access<\/a> to aid and concessional finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For critics of the system for allocating development assistance, these terrible events in September 2017 laid bare the weakness of its narrow focus on national income<\/a> while ignoring \u201cvulnerability\u201d \u2014 in a warming world where so-called once-in-a-lifetime weather disasters will become all too frequent.<\/p>

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Many small island developing states<\/a>, or SIDS, at the eye of the climate emergency are also paradises. A small number of very wealthy people snapping up luxury homes distorts and inflates income-per-head statistics, masking deep poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven years on, a radical plan to rewrite these aid rules \u2014 to recognize the climate threat to SIDS, but by mapping vulnerability in all its forms \u2014 will stand or fall in crucial talks at the United Nations<\/a> in the next few months.<\/p>

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The change is \u201clong overdue,\u201d according to Walton Webson, Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s permanent representative to the U.N. who argued the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic \u2014 \u201canother social disaster\u201d \u2014 had also proven the need for it.<\/p>

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\u201cMany small islands, and subsequently many developing countries, have seen that the current measurement for whether a country has graduated out of aid assistance is not fair or not working in their best interests. The momentum is really strong,\u201d he told Devex from New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webson is a co-facilitator of the U.N. intergovernmental process, along with Ana Paula Zacarias, Portugal\u2019s permanent representative, who pointed to growing interest from the World Bank<\/a> and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development<\/a> group of donor nations<\/a>. \u201cFor the first time, they are open to a discussion on these matters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both acknowledged the suspicions of some low-income countries which fear losing out from a shake-up. \u201cThe process now is to talk with everybody, listen to their worries, try to understand them, and address them the best we can,\u201d Zacarias added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proposal<\/a> to supplement GNI, or gross national income, as the benchmark for eligibility for aid, cheaper finance, and debt relief enjoys the obscure title: High level panel on the development of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, or MVI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 18 months from March 2022, a 12-member panel gathered evidence for a new system, producing a final report<\/a> in February this year that ranked each country\u2019s vulnerability to a range of economic, environmental, and social threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It branded the GNI measure \u201cthe wrong tool for the job\u201d stating: \u201cThe MVI is not an academic exercise: it is a vital tool to help small island nations gain access to the concessional financing that they need to survive the climate catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index will be in the spotlight at the 4th SIDS international conference<\/a> in Antigua at the end of May before U.N. members decide its fate in an expected resolution at the next General Assembly in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union has given strong backing<\/a>, arguing the vulnerability index offers a \u201cbetter understanding\u201d than GNI of \u201cdevelopment challenges and vulnerabilities\u201d and calling for its \u201cswift approval.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States is \u201cquite supportive,\u201d Webson and Zacarias said, while the United Kingdom has been somewhat more cautious, telling Devex that \u201cimprovements are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters recognize that even a political go-ahead in New York will only be a first step on the road to change: Backing from international financial institutions will be essential for a real-world impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cpreliminary country scores\u201d produced by the index ranked 70% of SIDS as above average for vulnerability, but acknowledged that \u2014 with most countries \u201cclustered around the median\u201d \u2014  it would be more difficult to use as a basis for allocating development aid than an \u201cincome cutoff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the world\u2019s most vulnerable country? Not a SIDS, but war-torn Yemen \u2014 ahead of Maldives, Djibouti, Chad, Naura, and Somalia \u2014 evidence for the argument that it is a \u201cuniversal\u201d model, the panel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index is \u201ca living tool,\u201d it was stressed, to be adapted as understanding of \u201cthe causes and consequences of vulnerability improve.\u201d One acknowledged weakness is the omission of the burden from debt, because of a lack of data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webson acknowledged \u201cU.N. negotiations are never easy because they always involve politics as much as economics,\u201d but added: \u201cI am optimistic, I believe we will get it done. We have to make sure the resolution isn’t so watered down that it’s not a useful mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zacarias said the stance of international financial institutions will be crucial. \u201cThis will be the most important thing. We want IFIs to look at the index and use it as fast as they can in their processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Aid rules shake-up offers hope to climate-threatened small islands SOURCE: https:\/\/www.devex.com\/- Antigua\u00a0and Barbuda was making great strides as one of the Caribbean’s more prosperous nations and poised to become \u201chigh income,\u201d officially\u00a0no longer in need\u00a0of development assistance. Then\u00a0Hurricane Irma\u00a0struck. A comprehensive look at the day\u2019s top global development breaking news, analysis, and opinionSubscribe Category 5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":202497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAntigua\u00a0and Barbuda was making great strides as one of the Caribbean's more prosperous nations...Then\u00a0Hurricane Irma\u00a0struck - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/antigua-and-barbuda-was-making-great-strides-as-one-of-the-caribbeans-more-prosperous-nations-then-hurricane-irma-struck\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Antigua\u00a0and Barbuda was making great strides as one of the Caribbean's more prosperous nations...Then\u00a0Hurricane Irma\u00a0struck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aid rules shake-up offers hope to climate-threatened small islands SOURCE: https:\/\/www.devex.com\/- Antigua\u00a0and Barbuda was making great strides as one of the Caribbean’s more prosperous nations and poised to become \u201chigh income,\u201d officially\u00a0no longer in need\u00a0of development assistance. 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