Redefining Resilience: The DBRP Advances Nature as an Asset Class at the Nature Summit 2025
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Panama City, Panama - At the recent Nature Summit 2025, Panama—an active member and champion of the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity (DBRP)—hosted a landmark panel titled “Nature is the Asset Class: Financing Resilience.” This critical gathering highlighted how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other vulnerable economies can transform their vast natural wealth into sustainable, inclusive economic prosperity. Panama’s unique geographic position—where tropical rainforest meets one of the world’s most vital maritime routes—symbolizes the complex interconnectedness of nature, economy, and society.
During the panel Dr. Gene Leon, Executive Director of DBRP, framed the conversation around a fundamental shift in how we view nature and finance development. He explained that treating nature as an investable asset rather than an externality radically changes the development finance landscape for SIDS. Traditionally, natural resources—such as coral reefs, mangroves, fisheries, and biodiversity—have been viewed as free public goods or externalities. This perspective has led to undervaluation, overexploitation, and increasing vulnerability to climate shocks.
For many SIDS, this means recognising natural capital as a vital component of national wealth and economic stability. While these countries are often “asset-rich but cash-poor,” they possess vast ocean territories and biodiversity that can be monetised through innovative mechanisms—nature-backed bonds, tokenization of ecosystem services, or performance-linked debt instruments. For example, bonds backed by mangrove carbon sequestration and flood protection services can generate capital for sustainable development without degradation.
The panel discussion also featured:
Moderator Mr. Ratu Fillimore, Pacific Island Forum - Coordinator
Dr. Dinah Nieburg, Co-Founder of Blue Green Future, who emphasized the importance of monetizing ecosystem services to create bankable revenue streams for developing countries.
Ms. Alicia Montalvo, Director of Climate Action & Biodiversity, Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) spoke to CAF’s investments in nature and biodiversity
Mr. Eric Maine, President of Kinesis Money, who showcased how blockchain and tokenization can enable transparent, scalable investment in nature-based assets.
Additionally, in keynote special remarks, Dr. Leon also introduced a new framework for action: a redefined “PPP” grounded in a Paradigm shift to view nature as a core asset class, Policy coherence across environmental and economic sectors, and bold, multi-stakeholder Partnerships to accelerate implementation. Panama’s unique ecological and economic landscape—where rainforest ecosystems intersect with global maritime trade—was cited as a living case study of this interdependence.
During Day Three’s speaker remarks, Dr. Gene Leon asserted the need for a bigger, bolder, and better approach to development finance, grounded in stronger public-private-philanthropic (P-P-P) collaboration. He identified two core issues obstructing progress: the lack of access to adequate and affordable finance, and the challenges of risk, vulnerability, and creditworthiness, particularly for climate-vulnerable nations.
Dr. Leon emphasized that Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) must finance with purpose—by not only increasing financial adequacy but also actively mitigating risk. Citing the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity (DBRP) as a leading model, he outlined a six-part framework for MDB reform:
First, he called for a paradigm shift to make nature-focused development a governance priority.
Second, he urged MDBs to strengthen capital adequacy by leveraging instruments such as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and hybrid capital.
Third, he underscored the need to unlock the economic value of nature to drive sustainable investment.
Fourth, he encouraged better use of existing domestic resources, including integration with national development banks and pension funds.
Fifth, he advocated for more fit-for-purpose financial policies and instruments—such as state-contingent and performance-based structures—alongside policy tools that reduce risk through capacity building and credit enhancement mechanisms.
Finally, he stressed the importance of improved partnerships that enable integration, pooling, and structured services across sectors and institutions.
Dr. Leon’s remarks underscored a central theme of the summit: that unlocking development finance at scale requires systemic reform, bold innovation, and alignment across all levels of capital and governance. Together, these three days of impact reinforced the DBRP’s positioning as a “systems bank” — uniquely structured to finance nature-positive infrastructure, support sovereign-led climate action, and unlock natural capital at scale.
By anchoring natural ecosystems at the center of development finance, the DBRP aims to shift global thinking: from nature as an externality to nature as the foundation for prosperity.
The Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity continues to champion this agenda across the Global South, with Panama’s leadership at the Summit serving as a bold example of how nations can integrate environmental integrity with economic strategy.
For SIDS and climate-vulnerable nations, the message was clear: resilience begins not at the margins, but at the core — with nature as the ultimate asset.
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