Fiji, Oct. 8 -- Barbados is calling for a major shift in how climate finance is delivered to small island states, warning that broad promises of more funding will not close the investment gap facing vulnerable economies.

Barbados Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Marsha Caddle told Pacific Pre-COP31 leaders in Fiji that climate vulnerability and economic development could no longer be treated as separate issues.

"People's lives do not fall so neatly behind the lines we draw for our own convenience," Caddle said.

She said small island states had spent years carrying debt accumulated largely through climate-related vulnerability and recovery while being denied adequate financing for development.

Caddle said she had seen the sam...