A record $1.1 billion debt-for-nature swap Ecuador just pulled off to protect its Galapagos Islands is creating a clamor among other nature-rich but cash-poor countries eager to follow suit
Giant tortoises are seen in Floreana Island at Galapagos National Park, Ecuador, October 8, 2016. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File PhotoRecord deal has sparked clamour among other countriesLONDON, June 9 - The record $1.1 billion debt-for-natureEcuador just pulled off to protect its unique Galapagos Islands is creating a clamour among other nature-rich but cash-poor countries eager to follow suit.
As those guarantees protect buyers of the new bonds if the country isn't able to pay the money back, the interest rate is lower, allowing the government involved to spend the savings on conservation. "What we have seen is that conversations that we had in the past and that went sideways for some time have been reinvigorated, and some of those that were moving along have been accelerated," he added.
Ilan Goldfajn, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, which provided the credit guarantee for the Galapagos deal, said recently that it is working on a debt-for-climate swap, where the savings would go towards climate change adaptation schemes. As well as Gabon, a handful of other African countries are also working on debt-for-nature deals bankers say, as is Sri Lanka and a clutch of Caribbean and Indian Ocean islands.
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