Seville, Spain, June 30, 2025 (Lusa) - The President of Cabo Verde, José Maria Neves, on Monday warned of "the urgent need for additional climate finance" for developing and especially vulnerable countries, such as small island states.
"With less than 0.003% of global emissions, Cabo Verde faces disproportionate impacts from the climate crisis, with scarce resources to respond and rebuild," said José Maria Neves, speaking in French at the plenary session of the United Nations IV International Conference on Financing for Development, which kicked off on Monday in Seville, Spain.
The President of Cabo Verde drew particular attention to "the urgent need for additional, predictable and targeted climate finance for adaptation, especially in areas such as renewable energies, coastal protection, water management and ocean sustainability".
The UN conference taking place in Seville until Thursday aims to relaunch the mobilisation and application of resources earmarked for development, as well as international cooperation in the fight against poverty. Today, at the start of the meeting, representatives from more than 190 UN countries signed the ‘Seville Commitment’ document, with a series of commitments and initiatives for the next decade.
According to the United Nations, funding for development is dwindling and currently has a deficit of US$4 trillion a year (around €3.4 trillion).
"I welcome the adoption of the Seville Commitment, which could become an operative instrument for transformation if it is underpinned by firm, measurable and properly financed commitments," said the country's president.
For José Maria das Neves, the annual deficit of US$4 trillion in development funding "is a global wake-up call" and "a reflection of the structural asymmetries of the international financial architecture, which continues to penalise developing countries and, in particular, Small Island States" such as Cabo Verde.
"Cabo Verde is well aware of these limitations," he said, saying that despite internal reforms in public finances, "broadening the tax base with justice, digitising processes, and aligning fiscal and budgetary policies" with the UN's sustainable development goals, the country is still unable to overcome or compensate for "the systemic constraints of a system that remains poorly accessible, unfair and unresponsive to the realities" of developing countries.
José Maria Neves emphasised that in the case of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), there is "a triple structural challenge" - "high debt that reduces fiscal space", "a fragile economic base vulnerable to external shocks" and "institutional constraints on the effectiveness of public spending".
"‘The commitments made need to be accompanied by effective and accessible instruments - from blue and green funds, to swapping debt for sustainable investments, and strengthening technical support for the most vulnerable countries"’he argued, calling for"‘adequate and urgent"’ funding to achieve all the goals set for development and the SIDS in particular in various multilateral forums.
"We also advocate a more equitable representation of SIDS in global economic and financial decision-making bodies," added José Maria Neves.
The conference that kicked off today in Seville "can no longer be a postponed promise" and "must mark the beginning of a new cycle of coherence, co-responsibility and global solidarity, where financing ceases to be a privilege and becomes an instrument of intergenerational justice and a vector of shared prosperity", he asked.
More than 60 world leaders are attending the Seville conference on financing for development, which takes place ten years after the previous one in Ethiopia in 2015.
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