The Marshall Islands brought a $35 billion plan to the table at COP28 in Dubai — without it, the country risks a climate catastrophe

• The Marshall Islands crafted a $35 billion adaptation plan, unveiled Wednesday at COP28.
• The plan could save people's lives and an Indigenous culture.
• But it can only be carried out with the help of wealthy economies like the US and the EU.

To understand the injustices of the climate crisis, take a look at the Marshall Islands.

The country is responsible for less than 0.01% of greenhouse-gas emissions that are warming the planet, yet it's among the most vulnerable to its effects. As glaciers and ice sheets melt at an alarming pace, sea levels are encroaching on the dozens of coral atolls and five islands that make up the nation in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the Marshall Islands are only 6 feet — or a couple of meters — above sea level. By 2070, sea levels are projected to rise nearly 2 feet.

"That doesn't sound like a lot, but that would actually inundate most of the main urban centers every 10 years and damage a lot of our islands, making it unlivable," Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, the Marshall Islands' climate envoy, told Business Insider.

High tide and swell waves would put the nearly 42,000 residents of the Marshall Islands at risk of regular flooding and food insecurity.

To stave off that kind of devastation, the Marshall Islands crafted a $35 billion adaptation plan, unveiled Wednesday at the UN climate summit in Dubai, known as COP28. The plan could save people's lives and an Indigenous culture deeply intertwined with the environment, Jetn̄il-Kijiner said. She explained that her necklace was made by local artisans who pound, strip, and dry leaves into a thread that is then woven with shells. Traditions like that could disappear along with the coastlines where native plants and marine life flourish.

The adaptation plan calls for fortifying low-lying islands, building seawalls, elevating homes, and constructing desalination plants. But it can only be carried out with the help of wealthy economies like the US and the European Union.

The wealthy nations that are most responsible for the climate crisis are under pressure at COP28 to boost financial aid for developing countries so they can become more resilient to natural disasters and be compensated for climate losses.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Saturday that the US would pledge $3 billion to a Green Climate Fund devoted to developing countries. Former President Barack Obama made a similar promise in 2014, only $2 billion of which has been delivered so far. The US also committed $17.5 million to a new "loss and damage" fund that countries agreed to set up at the outset of COP28.

The world's wealthiest nations were supposed to provide $100 billion a year in climate funding by 2020 but hit the target two years later. That isn't enough to cover the amount developing nations would need to adapt to the changing climate — the UN recently said they'd require hundreds of billions of dollars more.

The Marshall Islands has long been a leader in advocating for aggressive climate action during UN summits. At COP28, the country hopes a deal emerges to double the finance target.

"It's completely inequitable to expect us to pay for this ourselves," Jetn̄il-Kijiner said.

She added that countries also need to agree to phase out fossil fuels.

"Adaptation can only protect us for now," she said. "But the costs are going to be exponentially worse if we don't address the root cause of the crisis, which is fossil fuels."