Barbados will promote environmental sustainability and economic development with a US$100 million guarantee approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that will allow the country to create a long-term instrument to finance measures related to sustainability and marine conservation.

Barbados occupies an area of 432km2, with 92 kilometers of coastline. The Government has set an aspirational target of 30% of Barbados to be dedicated to conservation as a Marine Managed Area (MMA).

The IDB guarantee will help reduce borrowing costs for the country as it seeks to raise funds for conservation activities, which includes the creation of a conservation trust fund, known as the Barbados Environmental Sustainability Fund. The operation, which is structured as a policy-based guarantee, will also support reforms to improve environmental governance and sustainable debt management in Barbados. In addition, it will support capacity-building in project execution within the responsible Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment (MFEI). The beneficiaries of this project will be the citizens in Barbados who will enjoy the environmental and economic benefits of new protected areas and an enhanced natural capital.

This operation marks an important milestone for the IDB in helping its member countries to leverage innovative financial solutions to address biodiversity and climate change, which are priority issues of its Vision 2025 strategy. The project is the first where the IDB employs a guarantee to help a country create a long-term financing framework to use sustainable bonds for conservation measures. 

The $100 million IDB guarantee has a maximum duration of 20 years.