The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB, the Bank) is urging for stronger integration of natural capital accounting into development planning and policy to advance sustainable growth and resilience in the region. This call came during the opening of a workshop on Ecosystem Accounting hosted at CDB Headquarters in Barbados on June 30.

The two-day workshop, held in partnership with the Government of Barbados, the Blue Marine Foundation and Economics for the Environment Consultancy, is focused on building national capacity in natural capital accounting to support marine spatial planning and sustainable resource management, particularly in Barbados.

Delivering opening remarks, Ian Durant, CDB’s Acting Vice President for Finance and Corporate Services, emphasised that the loss of natural assets — including among others forests, coral reefs and wetlands — is a slow-onset but existential threat to the Caribbean’s people, economies, and cultural heritage.

“More than 70 percent of our population lives on the coast, and the ocean accounts for nearly 20 percent of our GDP. Yet, in the past four decades, we have lost up to 80 percent of our coral reefs,” said Durant. “This is not just an environmental issue—it’s a matter of food security, economic opportunity, and national resilience.”

Durant stressed that while the impacts of climate change often dominate global discussions, the loss of natural capital — vital ecosystems like mangroves, reefs, and beaches — is a silent but severe threat, particularly for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). He called for systemic approaches to quantify, monitor, and incorporate environmental data into policy planning through globally recognised frameworks like the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).

“It is not a matter of whether we should safeguard our natural capital, but how we will do so. That ‘how’ starts with building national statistical systems that can accurately measure and reflect the true value of our natural resources,” Durant said.

He acknowledged ongoing challenges faced by Caribbean countries, including under-resourced statistical agencies, insufficient financing for data systems, and fragmented data governance. In response, CDB is working with its member countries to address structural gaps, enhance administrative data, and strengthen regional partnerships.

However, he indicated, governments, development partners, and civil society must collaborate to invest in natural capital accounting. Now is the time to modernise national statistics systems, finance data-driven environmental governance, and mainstream ecosystem valuation into planning frameworks.