--- description: Emerging countries like Barbados need financial assistance to adapt to and mitigate against climate change. title: Barbados' Prime Minister Has a Message for Rich Countries image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0456fdebcd2bf86d/698a1e398fd2ee04e73630ea/climate.cop-Mia-Mottley.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [climate change](/tag/climate-change/) ## climate change Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Barbados' Prime Minister Has a Message for Rich Countries by [Jennifer Duggan](/author/4547461/) ## Jennifer Duggan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 28, 2021 10:50 AM CUT  Mia Mottley Mia MottleyRichard Drew—AP by [Jennifer Duggan](/author/4547461/) ## Jennifer Duggan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 28, 2021 10:50 AM CUT In the battle to slow down climate change, countries like Barbados are on the “front line,” says Prime Minister Mia Mottley. The island is threatened by [rising sea levels](https://time.com/5669021/antarctica-ice-melt-sea-level-rise/ "undefined") and extreme weather events like hurricanes that are increasing in intensity and frequency. But adapting to the impacts of climate change, to build defenses and repair the [damage from hurricanes](https://time.com/6095631/emergency-medicine-hurricane-ida/ "undefined"), will cost money that Barbados, with a national debt ratio of 144% of GDP, does not have. Mottley has made tackling the country’s debt a priority, and she negotiated a debt restructuring for Barbados shortly after taking office in 2018 that included “natural-­disaster clauses” to allow a break in interest repayments in the aftermath of extreme weather events. But the combined impact of those disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the island, whose economy shrank by over 17% in 2020\. “You are effectively talking about the potential loss of a decade,” Mottley says. Emerging countries like Barbados need [financial assistance](https://time.com/5937501/cities-raise-debt-crisis/ "undefined") to adapt to and mitigate against climate change. Developed nations pledged 12 years ago to put $100 billion a year toward helping them do it by 2020, but that target has not been met, and Mottley will be among those at COP26 arguing that it is no longer sufficient. It’s not just a question of countries sharing responsibilities, she says, but of ensuring their very existence. “This issue is about life and death for us. It is an issue about the stability of a nation.” **Read More of TIME’s COP26 Coverage:** [_Meet the People Working to Accomplish the COP26 Agenda_](https://time.com/6109403/cop26-summit-agenda/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6109430/mia-mottley-barbados-cop26/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6109430/mia-mottley-barbados-cop26/"},"headline":"Barbados' Prime Minister Has a Message for Rich Countries","datePublished":"2021-10-28T10:50:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T12:28:17.318Z","description":"Emerging countries like Barbados need financial assistance to adapt to and mitigate against climate change.","url":"https://time.com/6109430/mia-mottley-barbados-cop26/","keywords":["climate change","Magazine","healthscienceclimate","Climate Is Everything"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0456fdebcd2bf86d/698a1e398fd2ee04e73630ea/climate.cop-Mia-Mottley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Duggan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/4547461/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0456fdebcd2bf86d/698a1e398fd2ee04e73630ea/climate.cop-Mia-Mottley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"climate.cop-Mia-Mottley","caption":"Mia Mottley","creditText":"Richard Drew—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6109430/mia-mottley-barbados-cop26/","name":"Barbados' Prime Minister Has a Message for Rich Countries"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Goals of COP26 and How Far We Have to Go","description":"The stakes at COP26, the U.N. climate summit that begins Nov. 1 in Glasgow, couldn’t be higher. 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