The official launch of the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity — commonly known as the Nature Bank — is expected soon, according to Antigua.news, with the institution set to significantly bolster the sub-region's ability to secure nature-based financing.
OECS Director General Didacus Jules made the announcement at the close of the 78th meeting of the OECS Authority in Antigua and Barbuda, briefing media alongside Chairman and Prime Minister Gaston Browne on outcomes from the heads of government deliberations.
"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," Dr Jules said.
Antigua and Barbuda has been an early and consistent champion of the initiative. Prime Minister Browne sponsored the bank's launch at the SIDS4 Conference in May 2024, and Dr Gene Leon, the bank's Executive Director and former Caribbean Development Bank president, has previously credited Browne's backing as a turning point for the initiative.
The Nature Bank was first proposed at the SIDS Inter-Regional Conference in Cabo Verde in August 2023, conceived as a mechanism to give small island developing states a stronger collective voice in mobilising financing for resilient infrastructure. The concept gained further momentum at the 2024 SIDS4 Conference held in Antigua and Barbuda.
The institution is 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 major investors. Its model centres on monetising natural assets — including mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and forests — through tools such as tokenised nature credits.
Dr Jules linked the bank's progress to broader Authority discussions on establishing a regional carbon credit market built around OECS members' seascapes and mangroves.
The Director General placed the bank's advancement within a wider set of resilience priorities addressed during the 78th meeting, which also covered 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."
