Photo by Megs Homsher on Unsplash- Environment with green area and a lake
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Amazon to benefit from Ecuador's second debt-for-nature deal
Ecuador announced on Tuesday that it had converted part of its US$1.5 billion foreign debt into protection for the Amazon rainforest, the second debt-for-nature swap in the South American country.
Economy Minister Juan Carlos Vega said the government had renegotiated the debt to secure a new loan of US$1 billion “with better payment conditions.”
The operation generated more than $460 million in savings, which were “exclusively earmarked for the protection of our Amazon,” Vega said at an event in the capital, Quito, attended by President Daniel Noboa.
Debt-for-nature swaps are an increasingly popular tool to help developing countries refinance themselves and raise money for environmental or climate causes.
Last year, Ecuador converted US$1.6 billion in debt into a loan agreement that included US$450 million in funding for marine conservation in the Galapagos Islands.
The UN World Heritage Site, located 1,000 km off the coast of Ecuador, is where British naturalist Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution.
Last week, Barbados concluded what it called the world's first debt swap for climate resilience.
The Caribbean island said the agreement would allow it to invest US$165 million to help it adapt to climate change.
In October, the Central American nation of El Salvador announced that it would invest US$350 million in the conservation of the Lempa River - one of the longest in Central America - as part of a debt-for-nature deal.
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