OECS Director General Didacus Jules says the official launch of the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity, also known as the Nature Bank, is expected soon, with the institution poised to expand the sub-region’s capacity to raise nature-based financing.

The update came at the close of the 78th meeting of the OECS Authority in Antigua and Barbuda, where Dr Jules briefed media alongside Chairman and Prime Minister Gaston Browne on outcomes from the heads’ deliberations.

Antigua and Barbuda, under the Prime Minister’s stewardship, had been an early and consistent champion of the initiative with Prime Minister Browne sponsoring the launch of the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity during the SIDS4 conference in May 2024.

Dr Jules said the bank has advanced considerably since then.

“Great progress has been achieved on it, and we should be hearing soon about the official launch of the bank, which will make a huge difference in our capacity to raise nature-based financing,” he said.

The Nature Bank was first proposed at the SIDS Inter-Regional Conference in Cabo Verde in August 2023 as a mechanism to give small island developing states a stronger collective voice in mobilising financing for resilient infrastructure.

The concept gained momentum at the 2024 SIDS4 Conference in Antigua and Barbuda, with the institution designed to pool high-value forest, coastal and ocean ecosystems from participating states into a common platform capable of generating biodiversity and carbon credits at a scale attractive to serious investors.

Dr Gene Leon, the bank’s Executive Director and a former president of the Caribbean Development Bank, has previously credited Browne’s backing as a turning point for the initiative.

The bank’s model centres on monetising natural assets, including mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and forests, through tools such as tokenised nature credits, an approach Dr Jules linked to the Authority’s parallel discussions on creating a regional carbon credit market built around OECS members’ seascapes and mangroves.

The OECS Director General placed the bank’s progress within a broader set of resilience priorities addressed during the 78th meeting, alongside discussions on debt-for-nature swaps and food security financing.

“The question of resilience in terms of food security, financing, debt-for-nature swaps, we did have a discussion at some length on the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity and where we are on this,” he said. “So, we are expecting progress to be made.”