Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef delivered an unequivocal appeal for strengthened international cooperation to close the enduring gap in ocean financing, warning that climate change presents an existential threat to Small Island Developing States (SIDS). His remarks came at a high-level side event of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).
Framing the Indian Ocean as a "lifeline" to the Maldives, Vice President Latheef highlighted its central role in securing national food supplies and sustaining livelihoods, particularly within the country's tourism-driven economy. He expressed alarm over the increasing prevalence of mass coral bleaching and denounced the chronic underinvestment in Sustainable Development Goal 14 as "unacceptable and unsustainable". "This year, at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference, we've recognised that SDG14, Life Below Water, is the least funded of all Sustainable Development Goals. That is unacceptable and unsustainable," he said.
Responding to those mounting ecological and financial pressures, the Maldives announced two targeted financing mechanisms designed to bolster marine resilience and support coastal economies: a coral reef insurance scheme and a dedicated fund for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) active in the blue economy.
The insurance initiative aims to quantify and price climate risk, offering financial safeguards against environmental shocks while protecting biodiversity. Designed as a blended finance instrument, it seeks to facilitate MSME access to capital, reduce lending risk, and cultivate a pipeline of investable, climate-resilient ventures across the maritime sector.
These objectives were further explored at a thematic side event titled 'Blended Finance Opportunities for Marine Biodiversity', co-convened by the Maldives and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The forum brought together SIDS with rich marine ecosystems, nations often acutely vulnerable to climate impacts, to examine scalable, blended finance models.
A panel discussion following Vice President Latheef's remarks spotlighted the practical dimensions of these financial instruments. Panellists included Fathimath Abdulla Kamaaluddeen, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Market Development Authority; Charles Yu, Technical Specialist in Climate Finance and Investment at the UNDP; Yabanex Batista, Deputy Director of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs; and Giorgia Racis, Policy Lead for International Finance at the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Their dialogue ranged from structuring effective regulatory frameworks to expanding blended finance platforms and incorporating risk-layering techniques that deliver shared value to governments, donors, and private investors alike.
Vice President Latheef closed by underscoring the urgency of overhauling global financial systems in the face of escalating climate disruptions. For SIDS, he said, "financing for development is a matter of our survival." The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development continues in Seville through 3 July.