AOSIS Magazine Issue #1 PAF Recap | Page 9

AOSIS — THE PLACENCIA AMBITION FORUM RECAP CHALLENGES 1 The COVID-19 crisis has posed additional hurdles for all countries which must be overcome or addressed synonymously with climate change. This is most acutely faced in SIDS, which have small economies, focused on industries such as tourism. 2 The amount of climate finance being mobilized is still insufficient to meet the pathways required to achieve the 1.5-degrees Celsius goal. Financial systems need to be restructured to enable better financial flows, as well as access for SIDS, particularly taking into account the current COVID-19 crisis. Developing countries require support to translate their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) into investment plans, quantify their needs and build their national and institutional capacities to access funding. 3 Aside from financial constraints, SIDS continue to be hampered by legal and regulatory barriers that prevent the phasing out of fossil fuels, as well as constraints in hardware and human capacity. 4 There is need for new approaches that go beyond the typical monitoring and evaluation framework on a discrete project basis. This new paradigm must take into account the need for capacity building, knowledge sharing, and requires greater instances of collaboration and peer review. SIDS are hampered by small markets, and so need innovative methods to build out economies of scale from their more limited pilot project successes. 9