Social protection essential for climate justice in Small Island Developing States

GENEVA (ILO News) – A new brief from the International Labour Organization (ILO) reveals how better access to social protection can make Small Island Developing States (SIDS) less vulnerable to the climate crisis and highlights the need for international solidarity to help fill financing gaps. 

The brief, published on 12 May, and titled A fighting chance: Closing social protection gaps in small island developing States as climate justice in action, builds on the recent ILO flagship World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition to show how social protection can protect SIDS from climate disasters.

For SIDS, extreme weather events and rising sea levels are endangering livelihoods and threatening the existence of certain states. Meanwhile, a lack of access to social protection is limiting their ability to cope with and adapt to climate-related shocks, the brief indicates. 

Only 43.5 per cent of the population of SIDS currently have access to social protection, compared with a global average of 52.4 per cent. The main cause of the gap is underinvestment, notes the brief, with SIDS only allocating 7.1 per cent of GDP to social protection and health — far below the global average of 19.3 per cent.

Yet, SIDS can build and develop their social protection systems by closing these gaps. For some SIDS, gradually increasing social security contributions and income and wealth taxes may be an option, outlines the brief. Other options include integrating climate considerations into social protection policies, reforming fossil fuel subsidies, and pension fund greening. 

Support from the international community remains essential, in light of the difficult fiscal environment that many SIDS face. 

The brief further warns that current reductions in international solidarity imperil SIDS and prevent them from building social protection systems that are strong enough to withstand the climate crisis. To protect those on the frontlines of the crisis, the brief calls for international financial assistance to be anchored in climate justice. This means recognizing that SIDS bear a negligible historical responsibility for emissions, and therefore the climate crisis. As such, international financial assistance should include loss and damage assigned to supporting social protection.