Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face a convergence of challenges without parallel in the contemporary international landscape. Their geographical characteristics — small land area, remoteness, and acute vulnerability to natural disasters — are now being dramatically amplified by climate change, placing low-lying islands at existential risk. For many SIDS, the question is no longer whether these changes will arrive, but how much time remains to respond. The threats extend well beyond the physical. Chronic debt burdens, inaccessible climate finance, and unresolved questions of international law compound the crisis, while the sectors sustaining SIDS economies, such as fishing, agriculture, and tourism, face mounting pressure with few buffers against external shocks. This panel brings together leading voices across climate science, sustainable finance, international law, and frontline experience to examine these intersecting challenges and to shift the narrative around SIDS from one of victimhood to one of innovation, advocacy, and shared responsibility.

Speakers:

• Yabanx Batista, Deputy Director, UN Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR)
• Alix Chatton, Marine Officer, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Ryan Mitra, South Asia & Pacific Coordinator, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)

Moderator: 

• Danae Lina Román García, PhD Candidate in Anthropology and Sociology, Geneva Graduate Institute