The Nature Bank Advances Island Resilience and Development Finance Dialogue at the Global Sustainable Islands Summit in Gran Canaria
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From 20 to 22 April 2026, the Nature Bank participated in the Global Sustainable Islands Summit in Gran Canaria, Spain, joining island leaders, development finance practitioners, climate experts, investors, and innovation partners for three days of dialogue on sustainable and resilient island development.
The Summit came at an important moment for island economies. For many of them, the development question is no longer only how to grow. It is how to keep schools open after a storm, protect coastlines without exhausting public budgets, finance clean energy without deepening debt, preserve oceans and reefs while creating jobs, and build institutions that can absorb the next shock without starting again from zero.
For the Nature Bank, the Summit provided an opportunity to reinforce a central message: island resilience cannot be financed through fragmented, short-term, project-by-project approaches. It requires integrated development platforms, country-led investment pipelines, and financing models that recognise the real value of nature, resilience, and local capacity.
Dr. Hyginus “Gene” Leon, Executive Director of the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity, and Ashaki Goodwin represented the Nature Bank across several high-level sessions and side events.
The Summit opened on 20 April at ExpoMeloneras, Gran Canaria.
On 21 April, Dr. Leon participated in the opening high-level panel, “A Global Vision for Sustainable and Resilient Islands.” The session brought together global leaders and island experts to examine strategic pathways for sustainable island development and resilience. Dr. Leon’s contribution focused on the need to move beyond traditional development models that treat vulnerability as a permanent risk, and instead recognise resilience as an investable asset.
Ashaki Goodwin later joined the panel “Mobilising Capital for Island Transitions,” which brought together international institutions, financiers, and island networks to explore how capital can be mobilised for clean energy, climate projects, and smaller-scale island contexts. The discussion focused on global funds, philanthropic capital, blended finance, and the role of regional expertise in building scalable and sustainable solutions.
This discussion aligned closely with the Nature Bank’s work. For islands, the challenge is not simply attracting more capital. It is designing financing structures that are fit for purpose, affordable, accessible, and connected to national development priorities. Blended finance, guarantees, philanthropic capital, and public development banking must be organised around coherent country and regional platforms, rather than isolated projects that do not add up to systemic transformation.
Dr. Leon also participated in the Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund Launch side event, further underscoring the importance of dedicated financing mechanisms for island resilience. Such instruments are critical for helping islands move from policy ambition to implementation, particularly in areas such as adaptation, disaster risk reduction, marine protection, renewable energy, and community resilience.
On 22 April, Ashaki Goodwin moderated the session “Addressing Vulnerability in Small Island Developing States and Overseas Territories.” The session examined the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index and its relevance for SIDS, Overseas Territories, and non-sovereign island jurisdictions. The MVI represents an important shift in how vulnerability is understood and measured. By looking beyond income-based measures such as Gross National Income, it provides a more comprehensive assessment of exposure to economic, environmental, and social shocks.
For the Nature Bank, this discussion is central to the reform of development finance. Islands are often assessed through narrow financial and income-based indicators that do not fully capture structural vulnerability, climate exposure, ecological value, or resilience needs. A more complete measurement framework can help support fairer access to concessional finance, more appropriate risk pricing, and better-targeted international support.
Ashaki also participated in the fireside discussion and design lab on “Designing and Delivering Impactful Island Innovation Programmes.” The session explored how programme design, funding structures, governance models, and ecosystem alignment influence outcomes. This practical focus speaks directly to the Nature Bank’s operating principles. Strong ideas are not enough. Island programmes need delivery architecture, clear governance, local ownership, implementation partners, and financing structures that can move from pilot to scale.
Dr. Leon also contributed to several focused discussions on finance, conservation, geothermal energy, artificial intelligence, and climate resilience. He participated in a podcast episode on conservation funding and local capacity building, which explored how finance and training can support long-term marine protection. The discussion brought together perspectives from Outrigger Impact, the Regional Climate Finance Access Network, SPC, and the Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund.
He also joined the side event “Financing Geothermal in Islands: Structuring Investment and Unlocking Capital.”The session examined practical pathways to mobilise capital at scale for geothermal development in island and emerging market contexts. For islands with geothermal potential, the issue is not only resource availability. It is also project preparation, risk reduction, investor confidence, and the ability to structure bankable projects that can attract long-term capital.
Later that day, Dr. Leon participated in the ODI side event “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Strengthen Climate Resilience in Small Island Developing States.” The session focused on how multilateral development banks can support SIDS in adopting and integrating AI into climate finance access and adaptation project implementation. This is particularly relevant for countries with limited technical capacity, fragmented data systems, and burdensome climate finance application processes.
Across these discussions, the Nature Bank’s message remained consistent. Islands do not need more fragmented initiatives. They need interoperable systems that connect data, finance, institutions, natural capital, local capacity, and implementation.
This is at the core of the Nature Bank model.
The Nature Bank is advancing an interoperable public development banking system that can support vulnerable economies through country-led platforms, whole-country resilience portfolios, natural capital valuation, blended finance, guarantees, and investment structures that recognise nature as a productive asset. This model is especially relevant for islands, where the economy, climate, ocean, infrastructure, and communities are deeply connected.
Gran Canaria provided a timely platform to carry this message forward. It brought together the people and institutions working at the front line of island resilience: governments, development partners, investors, innovators, conservation leaders, and technical experts.
In that sense, the Global Sustainable Islands Summit was more than a convening. For the Nature Bank, it was part of the practical work of moving from concept to operationalisation. These engagements allow DBRP to test its ideas with governments, public development banks, investors, technical partners, and island leaders; identify where its model can add value; and build the relationships needed to move from policy design to implementation. Each conversation helps bring the Bank closer to its purpose: helping vulnerable economies turn resilience, nature, and local capacity into investable foundations for long-term prosperity.
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