The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is calling for fairer access to development funding, saying debt payments and costly borrowing are limiting the money available for hospitals, schools and infrastructure.
Palau’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations First Secretary Ianthe B. Douglas delivered the appeal on behalf of the alliance, known as AOSIS, during the United Nations General Assembly’s Second Committee general debate on October 5.
“We do not face only a shortage of finance. We face a problem of where finance flows, on what terms, and according to whose measure of need,” Douglas said.
According to the statement, the global funding gap for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals now exceeds $4 trillion a year.
Official development assistance (ODA) fell by 23.1% in 2025, while small island developing states received less than 1% of global foreign direct investment flows in 2024.
Debt-service burdens across small island developing states have also reached two-decade highs, the statement said.
AOSIS called for financing decisions to account for countries’ vulnerability, rather than relying on national income alone.
It urged wider use of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) to reflect challenges such as geographic isolation, disasters, and exposure to external economic shocks.
The alliance said scarce public funds needed for essential services and stronger infrastructure were instead being absorbed by debt payments.
“Development finance cannot mean indebting the vulnerable simply to withstand the next shock,” Douglas said.
AOSIS urged support for the SIDS Centre of Excellence to put its Debt Sustainability Support Service into operation. It also called on development partners to reverse aid cuts and fulfil their commitments.
Private investment has an important role, the alliance said, but cannot replace public assistance in countries and sectors where investors cannot or will not invest.
The statement also stressed that island states protect oceans, ecosystems, and biodiversity that benefit the wider world, making affordable financing for them a global investment.