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As Hurricane Melissa threatens island nations across the Caribbean, many are already burdened by debt from a string of climate-fueled crises.
Oct. 28, 2025Updated 4:18 p.m. ET
It has become a tired adage, but nonetheless true. The world’s poorest countries will suffer the most from climate change despite being least responsible for it.
Leaders in the Caribbean and from vulnerable island states around the world have been repeating this for years. And they have been asking the world’s rich countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions over generations have fueled warmer seas and bigger storms, to help them prepare.
With Hurricane Melissa scouring Jamaica with vicious intensity before setting its sights on Cuba and the Bahamas, it is likely that many of the affected countries will once again be overwhelmed by the expense of recovery. The Caribbean is the world’s most exposed region to climate-fueled disasters, according to the International Monetary Fund, which has said the region requires about $100 billion in economic investment to build resilience.
In one of his first acts upon entering the White House, President Trump stopped the United States from contributing funding to help vulnerable countries prepare for the threats from global warming. Since then, the administration has dismantled virtually all of the foreign aid programs and offices that work with poor countries and others struggling to cope with disasters.
“Our countries don’t have the luxury to become more resilient to climate change,” said Michai Robertson, a senior adviser to the Alliance of Small Island States, who is from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Infrastructure on Barbuda was decimated by Hurricane Irma in 2017, a storm that caused more than $77 billion in damages across the Caribbean and South Florida.
