World has ‘moral responsibility’ to help small island states survive climate crisis – UN agency chief

Destruction on the Caribbean island of Dominica, after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Small island developing states are disproportionately affected by natural disasters. Photograph: Cedrick Isham Calvados/AFP/Getty Images

The world has a “moral responsibility” to support the fight for survival being faced by small island states, according to a leading UN agency chief.

Ahead of the fourth annual conference of small island developing states (Sids) being held in Antigua and Barbuda this week, Jorge Moreira da Silva, the executive director of the (Unops), called for recognition of the problems faced by what he called “some of the most vulnerable economies in the world” who contributed less than 1% to global carbon emissions.