Dominica President calls for climate resilience funding before disasters strike

Dominica: President of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Sylvanie Burton, has called for a fundamental change in the way the international community finances climate-vulnerable countries. She urged global partners to invest in resilience before disasters strike rather than repeatedly funding reconstruction after devastation.

While addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Burton said Dominica is seeking to move beyond being viewed primarily through the lens of vulnerability and instead wants to be recognised as a partner in global climate transformation.

The 81st UN General Assembly is being held under the theme “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All.” The session is being presided over by Dr Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh with the General Debate taking place from September 22 to 28, 2026.

President Burton said that the theme directly reflects the challenges confronting the international community such as climate change, conflicts, economic uncertainty, technological transformation and stalled progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

She argued that while the UN has played a critical role in responding to humanitarian crises and supporting development over more than eight decades, greater emphasis must now be placed at preventing crises and addressing its root cause.

“The true test of this organization, therefore, is not only how well we respond after people have suffered. It is also whether we can work together to prevent that suffering in the first place,” Burton told the Assembly.

She further questioned the global system, “A fundamental question that one must ask is can the international system still deliver for Dominica?”

Putting a major focus on vulnerability faced by small island nations, she said that when a hurricane destroys the infrastructure, when international energy prices rise, when access to capital becomes more expensive, when global markets change, or when climate finance remains beyond the reach, the consequences are felt immediately in their homes, in their businesses, in their schools and hospitals, and in the very lives of their people.

However, she said she did not come before the assembly to speak only of vulnerability but also of transformation and resilience.

According to her, Dominica has made a choice as they have chosen not only to rebuild after the disaster but to build differently, adding that, “Build better, build stronger.” She added that the island nation has chosen not only to adapt to climate change but to showcase what a climate resilient economy and country can look like.

Dominica pushes resilience before disaster

A major focus of the President’s address was Dominica’s experience with extreme weather and the lessons learned following Category Five Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Burton said the hurricane demonstrated the severe vulnerability faced by Small Island Developing States, but also reinforced a central principle behind Dominica’s development strategy that resilience must be built before disaster occurs.

She called on the international community to move away from a system that largely mobilises financing after infrastructure has been destroyed and towards one that systematically invests in stronger infrastructure and institutions beforehand.

For Dominica, she said, this includes resilient roads, bridges and buildings, modern water systems, reliable communications, strengthened health facilities and disaster-ready communities.

However, President Burton stressed that national resilience extends beyond physical infrastructure.

“A resilient country must have resilient institutions. It must have resilient public finances. It must have resilient energy systems and must have resilient food systems,” she said.

She added that people must also be equipped with the skills and confidence necessary to withstand economic, environmental and other shocks.

Geothermal energy at centre of economic transformation

President Burton also highlighted Dominica’s transition towards renewable energy and told the world leaders that the country's geothermal power plant is now in commercial operation.

According to the President, the development has increased the renewable share of Dominica’s electricity generation to approximately 84 percent and has put the country on course towards its ambition of achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

She said that the transition should not be viewed simply as an environmental initiative and described renewable energy as a foundation for wider economic transformation.

The Dominican leader argued that reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels can protect Dominica from international energy price shocks while strengthening energy security and creating opportunities for investment, employment and new industries.

“Our ambition is not merely to generate clean electricity. Our ambition is to use clean energy to transform our economy,” she said.

The President subsequently called for international financing arrangements that recognise the broader development potential of renewable energy projects in vulnerable countries.