Climate Change is “Our Lived Reality”, Briceño Warns

Prime Minister John Briceño placed climate change at the heart of his United Nations address, stressing that small island developing states are already living with the severe impacts of a warming planet.

“Belize is the fifth most vulnerable small island developing state to climate risk, ranked second in the world for impacts from extreme weather,” Briceño told the assembly. He explained that rising sea levels are already displacing communities, while extreme heat and unpredictable rainfall threaten agriculture and energy systems.

He described how fishers in Belize are struggling to adapt. “Fishers must now travel farther and risk more for declining catches and warming seas. Food security is on the trip. So too are the health of our people, the livelihoods and the survival of our ecosystems,” Briceño said. He insisted that this is not a distant danger: “This is our lived reality. It is not science fiction. It is not abstract theory. It is a danger to our overall security.”

Briceño argued that the current global financial system punishes responsible environmental stewardship. “It is high time, past time, for the global financial system to reward environmental stewardship. To recognise the true value of these natural assets for long-term resilience,” he said.

He called for urgent climate financing and fairer treatment of small island states. “Only 1% of climate finance flows to SIDS, half of which are loans. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry with trillions of dollars in subsidies annually is not just perverse; it is dangerous,” Briceño declared. He urged the G20 and development banks to lead the mobilisation of $1.3 trillion in climate finance and to prioritise the most vulnerable nations.