The Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and newly appointed Country Representative for the Inter-American Development Bank, Mrs. Florencia Attademo-Hirt

The Inter-American Development Bank, in conjunction with the Office of the Prime Minister, designated the City of Nassau as an Emerging Sustainable City on September 2, 2015 at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. This Emerging Sustainable City Initiative (ESCI) was started in June 2015 and is being spearheaded by the Economic Development Planning Unit within the Office of The Prime Minister.

The Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI) employs a multidisciplinary approach to address the sustainable urban development challenges facing emerging cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ESCI incorporates environmental sustainability, comprehensive urban development, fiscal sustainability and good governance. The ESCI framework provides a set of policy tools which will offer well-integrated and sustainable solutions to Nassau’s development challenges.

Approved by the IDB’s Vice Presidency of Countries and Vice Presidency of Sectors on August 7, 2015, this $1.1 Million technical cooperation will fund a diagnostic assessment and the preparation of a comprehensive Action Plan to improve Nassau's sustainability in terms of its environmental, urban, financial and governance dimensions. The ESCI for Nassau will then support pre-investment studies for selected projects prioritized in the Action Plan. These may include more detailed diagnostics, the determination of economic and technical pre-feasibility studies, engineering drafts, and designs.

In his opening remarks, the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance stated: “[Sustainable Nassau] is a key component of the National Development Plan that aims to regenerate, renew and revitalize the city of Nassau including the downtown Bay Street, heritage and our over-the-hill neighborhoods. It is my hope that this Initiative will encourage new growth opportunities for all Bahamians citizens and residents to create wealth and thrive. It is through sustainable development initiatives like these, that we will move beyond merely saying ‘It’s better in The Bahamas’ to living in a country where, the majority of our people continue to live this reality in their daily lives.”

NASSAU, The Bahamas – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Senator the Hon. Allyson Maynard Gibson received in a courtesy call the newly-appointed Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Representative for the Country Office in The Bahamas, Florencia Attademo-Hirt, September 9, 2015, at the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs. Mrs. Attademo-Hirt is a national of Argentina and a multi-lingual attorney. She joined the Bank in 1999, and was most recently Operations Principal Specialist in the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Division in the Institutions for Development Sector. She took up her post in The Bahamas on August 16, 2015. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson)

In her opening remarks, Mrs. Florencia Attademo-Hirt, Country Representative of the IDB noted that “Given the ecologically sensitive nature of much of the existing built environment and population, this is the opportune time for a paradigm shift in city planning and management for the City of Nassau,guiding development toward smart growth and in a more sustainable direction; restoring and protecting ecologically sensitive areas (coast, marine habitats, green areas and parks); building resiliency to climate change, sea level rise, and natural disasters; hence the opportunity for effective management of urban change is great with the leadership of the government of the Bahamas”.

Mr. Gilberto Chona, ESCI Team Leader said: “Sustainability is not a buzz word or just a punch line anymore. In the presence of climate change, urban sustainability has become a real imperative to manage and create resilience towards climate change. Even more so in coastal cities like Nassau, subject to severe weather events. By creating the foundations for urban sustainability, the Emerging Sustainable Cities Initiative will identify options for local economic development, mobility and accessibility; as well as social inclusion, with a territorial perspective.”