The Virgin Islands and many other Caribbean states are unfairly deprived of development assistance because they are categorised as middle- or high-income jurisdictions, VI Special Envoy Benito Wheatley said during a recent event in Santiago, Chile.
Mr. Wheatley made the comments while representing the territory at a Jan. 27-28 meeting on measuring development hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a press release he circulated afterwards. The session was held ahead of the fourth UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) set for June and July in Seville, Spain.
GDP benchmark
In his remarks, Mr. Wheatley noted that per-capita gross domestic product is typically used as the main barometer to determine countries’ and territories’ eligibility for Official Development Assistance, known as ODA.
But in Latin America and the Caribbean, he argued, the eligibility criteria should also take into account small island developing states’ heightened vulnerability to climate change and related disasters.
Mr. Wheatley added that the VI, which is currently serving as the vice chair of ECLAC, supports a “multidimensional development measure” designed to replace per-capita GDP as the primary benchmark, according to the press release.
“In his contribution on a new metric for development, the special envoy emphasised the importance of vulnerability and climate resilience to [small island developing states] as indicators of both their ability to withstand hurricanes and other extreme weather events, to recover quickly, and to maintain their level of development,” the release stated.
Associate members
Mr. Wheatley also explained a related dilemma faced by the VI and other associate members of ECLAC: Despite their vulnerability, they are not included in the internationally agreed Multi-Dimensional Vulnerability Index.
Hurricane Irma
For the VI, he said, this meant that the territory did not qualify for concessional financing to rebuild after the 2017 hurricanes caused catastrophic damage costed at some $2.3 billion and wiped out the tourism sector for months.
In the margins of the meeting, Mr. Wheatley also met with the FfD4 host country representative Sergio Colina on the importance of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) to the ongoing international discussions about the next financing-for-development period.