WASHINGTON, D.C. — ST Kitts and Nevis has reaffirmed its solidarity with Jamaica in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, using the platform of the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council to call for urgent global action on climate change.
Since the Category 5 hurricane struck Jamaica, support has been pouring in from across the region and around the world. However, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Ambassador to the United States, Jacinth Henry-Martin, emphasized that the broader issue of climate change — and its devastating impact on small island nations — must not be overlooked.
“Climate change is real,” she said. “The path forward is marked not only by the immediate need for shelter, food, and water, but also by the years of debt and reconstruction that must follow — often financed at rates that disregard the compounded and repeated vulnerability of nations already stretched to their limits.”
Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica with sustained winds of 185 mph, leaving widespread destruction and claiming more than 40 lives before moving on to impact Cuba, the Bahamas, and Haiti.
Ambassador Henry-Martin said the realities on the ground are grim — lives lost, livelihoods destroyed, and communities left to “face an uphill battle to rebuild what nature, intensified by the undeniability of changing climate, has so cruelly taken.”
“For small island developing states, already bearing the weight of limited resources and high exposure to external shocks, the aftermath of such disasters is more than the work of recovery,” she continued. “It is the struggle for survival, while recognizing the inescapable truth that the next year and the years that follow still have us in their crosshairs.”
Regional leaders have repeatedly urged major emitting nations to take stronger action on climate change, highlighting the growing urgency of the issue at the United Nations General Assembly in September — particularly in relation to the Loss and Damage Fund.
Early estimates indicate that Jamaica, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Melissa, faces over US$2 billion in damage.
“This tragedy is yet another stark reminder of the climate reality confronting SIDS — a crisis not of our own making, but one for which we bear a disproportionate cost,” Henry-Martin stressed. “It compels the global community to confront with urgency and, yes, with fairness the inequities of climate finance and the structural obstacles that impede recovery and resilience for those most exposed.”
She added that St. Kitts and Nevis “renews its call for collective action — for a just international response that transforms pledges into tangible relief and climate justice for nations such as those of CARICOM, which stand on the front lines.
“Climate change is real, and it is now,” she concluded. “Its impact is no longer distant or theoretical — it is felt in the loss of lives, the destruction of homes, and the heartbreak of our people.”
Meanwhile, regional leaders, climate activists, and key stakeholders have gathered in Brazil for the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to amplify calls for stronger global climate commitments.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also urged developed nations to honor their financial pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund, warning that the world must act decisively to prevent surpassing the 1.5°C global warming threshold.
Ambassador Henry-Martin concluded her address by calling on stakeholders across the hemisphere to stand together to protect lives and livelihoods — during and after disasters.
