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Against the backdrop of the 2026 Berlin Climate Mobility Forum, a top Caribbean official is amplifying a long-silenced call: Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Antigua and Barbuda must be granted far greater influence in global climate governance, rather than being sidelined from decisions that shape their very survival.

In a post-forum interview, Michael Joseph, who serves as Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Health, Wellness, Environment and Civil Service Affairs, drew a stark contrast that underscores the injustice at the heart of the global climate crisis. While Caribbean nations collectively contribute less than a fraction of one percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, they bear a wildly disproportionate share of climate harm, from crippling extreme weather to slow-onset disasters like rising sea levels that threaten to erase entire territories.

Joseph emphasized that this gap in responsibility is matched by a gap in representation: even as climate-induced displacement and mobility emerge as defining global challenges of the 21st century, Caribbean voices remain drastically underrepresented in international negotiations focused on adaptation and climate-driven migration. “Caribbean voices are diminished even more,” Joseph noted, arguing that the region cannot afford to be an afterthought in policy processes that will directly determine the future of its people and nations.

The region’s unique vulnerability is on clear display every year, Joseph pointed out: for six months annually, Caribbean communities brace for the destructive force of Atlantic hurricanes, which can wipe out years of development gains in a matter of hours. He cited recent examples across the region, including Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, where single storm events have caused catastrophic damage to infrastructure, crippled local economies, and reversed hard-won progress in poverty reduction and public service expansion.

For SIDS across the Caribbean, climate risk is not a distant hypothetical. “For many of us, it is not a matter of if, but who is going to be impacted,” Joseph said, framing the urgency of the region’s demand for a permanent seat at the table when global leaders negotiate climate financing and resilience-building measures. Without a direct voice in these discussions, he argued, policies are often designed that fail to address the unique needs of small island nations, leaving communities more exposed to preventable harm.

To address the systemic barriers that block SIDS from accessing critical climate support, Joseph renewed calls for the broader adoption of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) by international financial institutions. The minister explained that traditional metrics used to determine eligibility for grants, concessional loans, and other climate-related funding often fail to capture the full scope of small island states’ inherent vulnerability. These outdated frameworks force many SIDS into unfair disadvantage, locking them out of the affordable support they need to prepare for and recover from climate disasters.

Joseph closed by reiterating the region’s core demands: increased climate finance tailored to the needs of SIDS, formal and meaningful representation in global climate decision-making bodies, and targeted international support to protect the livelihoods, distinct cultures, and traditional ways of life that are now at risk due to rising global temperatures.

Held in Berlin, the annual Climate Mobility Forum gathers policymakers, academic researchers, and leaders of international organizations to address the rapidly growing challenge of displacement and migration triggered by climate change, a crisis that is projected to displace hundreds of millions of people globally by mid-century if decisive action is not taken.

In late summer, a relatively weak tropical system has left a staggering mark on the U.S. Gulf Coast, with preliminary assessments from AccuWeather forecasting total damage and economic losses ranging between $4 billion and $6 billion. Tropical Storm Arthur, which spent less than 24 hours officially classified at tropical storm strength after forming off the Texas coast, unleashed catastrophic, life-threatening weather across a multi-state stretch from Texas to the Florida Panhandle, with Louisiana and Mississippi bearing the brunt of the destruction.

Record-shattering rainfall amounts overwhelmed local infrastructure across the region. In Cottonport, Louisiana, the storm dumped a total of 31.56 inches of rain over just a few days, while nearby Plaucheville and Simmesport recorded 24.47 inches and 20.66 inches respectively. Even in Carriere, Mississippi, totals reached 15.75 inches, far exceeding the capacity of local drainage systems. The extreme precipitation sparked widespread flash flooding that closed dozens of roads, inundated hundreds of homes and businesses, and forced emergency teams to carry out dozens of high-water rescues. As of 7 a.m. Friday, at least two fatalities have been confirmed, two tornadoes have been recorded in Louisiana, and additional twisters are expected to be documented as assessment teams reach isolated areas.

AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate accounts for every dimension of the storm’s economic footprint, from direct physical damage to homes, businesses and public infrastructure to indirect costs including extended business interruptions, hundreds of flight delays, prolonged power outages, supply chain disruptions, crop losses, emergency evacuation and response expenses, and ongoing recovery costs. AccuWeather experts note the final total could climb even higher, as many hard-hit areas have not yet submitted full damage reports, and lingering impacts continue to disrupt local communities weeks after floodwaters first rose.

“Flooding, travel disruptions, power outages and business interruptions can quickly add up to billions of dollars in impacts for families, businesses and communities,” said Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather Vice President of Forecasting Operations. “Arthur is another reminder that tropical systems do not need to reach hurricane strength to cause significant, expensive and even deadly damage and economic losses.”

Flooding was by far the costliest impact of the storm, a pattern DePodwin says is common for weaker tropical systems that move inland. To better communicate the full scope of a storm’s threat beyond just wind speed, AccuWeather used its proprietary RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes to rate Arthur a 2, due to its life-threatening flooding. This differs from the traditional Saffir-Simpson scale, which only ranks storms by wind speed and would have classified Arthur as a low-level event before dissipation.

“Arthur is a clear example of why the AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes is so important. Instead of classifying a storm’s threat by just its wind speed, the scale accounts for the other many threats that are caused by tropical systems. Storm surge, and in the case of Arthur flooding, are typically responsible for more widespread impacts than wind damage alone and more people are killed by water than wind in tropical systems. Some of the most destructive flood events in our nation’s history were caused by tropical storms or unnamed tropical rainstorms,” DePodwin added.

AccuWeather’s damage estimate uses independent, proprietary methodology that incorporates both insured and uninsured losses, drawing on a wide range of public and proprietary data sources to capture both short-term and long-term economic impacts. The company has been a leading provider of preliminary disaster damage estimates since 2017, when its widely cited early assessment of Hurricane Harvey helped the public and policymakers grasp the full scale of that catastrophic event. Unlike many partial assessments that only count insured property damage, AccuWeather’s methodology includes lost wages and business income, cleanup and emergency management costs, long-term disruptions to tourism and transportation, and even unreported medical and mortality costs that are often omitted from official early estimates.