By Oliver Griffin
CALI, Colombia (Reuters) – Six international conservation groups including The Nature Conservancy and The Pew Charitable Trusts on Tuesday launched a new coalition to develop practice standards for sovereign debt conversions for nature and climate.
The coalition, which also includes Conservation International; Re:wild; the World Wildlife Fund in the U.S. and The Wildlife Conservation Society, will also develop a pipeline of shared projects, the groups said in a joint statement.
Some 60% of low income countries see their efforts to protect nature limited by debt, while up to $100 billion in climate and nature finance could be unlocked by scaling sovereign debt conversions for conservation commitments, the statement said.
“What this scheme tries to do is work with governments who have signed up to clear commitments for 30-by-30 and also have debt that needs to be converted,” The Nature Conservancy’s CEO Jennifer Morris said at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations COP 16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia.
The summit, which marks the 16th meeting of parties to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is debating how to implement 23 goals outlined in the 2022 Kunming-Montreal agreement.
Chief among those goals is having each country set aside 30% of its land and sea territory for conservation by 2030 – a target known as the 30-by-30 goal.
Debt-for-nature swaps, where a developing country’s debt is cut in return for protecting vital ecosystems, have attracted growing interest in recent years following success in places such as Belize and the Galapagos Islands.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has made fighting climate change and protecting nature a key ambition of his government and has frequently called for debt forgiveness for developing countries in exchange for environmental protection.
Petro and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have held conversations about a potential debt-for-nature swap with Germany, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told Reuters earlier this month.
The six organizations will develop practice standards for converting sovereign debt for nature and climate commitments, which are expected to be published by early 2025, the statement said, adding that standards will focus on aspects such as governance and operations and conservation trust funds, among others.
The coalition will also focus on joining forces on debt conversion projects, developing policy, and increasing the size of available capital for credit enhancement such as insurance and guarantees.
“Debt conversions result in a win-win-win for governments, local communities, and nature by reducing a country’s overall debt burden, providing resources for economic development for local communities, and by unlocking funding to conserve a country’s most vital ecosystems,” said Wildlife Conservation Society’s interim president and CEO Robb Menzi.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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