Minister Habet Showcases Belize Blue Bonds Success at SIDS Conference

Also attending the conference in Antigua and Barbuda is the Minister of Sustainable Development and Climate Change, Orlando Habet.  This morning, Minister Habet officially opened a side event called, ‘How Debt-for-Nature and Debt-for-Climate Swaps can Help SIDS Economies: Belize Case Study and Tools for Governments’.  At this discussion, the Belize Blue Bonds was presented as a success case study to emphasize how tools such as debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps can be used to help SIDS countries achieve their nature and climate commitments, foster blue economy strategies, increase resilience to natural disasters without increasing a country’s debt or debt service burden.  An additional presentation was made by the Director of the Blue Bonds and Finance Permanence Unit, Beverly Wade, on the structure, benefits and challenges of the Belize Blue Bonds from concept, creation, and implementation. The targeted nature outcomes and impacts achieved to date under the Belize Blue Bonds were also showcased. Other panelists were the Director of the Nature Bonds Program, Kevin Bender; the former Minister of Finance, Seychelles Jean Paul Adam; former Ambassador Jessye Lapenn, the Senior Coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation in the United States.