Colombia has agreed to a debt-for-nature swap with the U.S. government and three international environmental groups that will allow it to redirect US$10 million from foreign debt payment to tropical-forest protection and the creation of new nature reserves. The deal was formalized here April 23 in the presidential palace by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and representatives of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). Under its terms, Colombia will boost protection of 11 million acres (4.45 million has) of tropical forest through community training, sustainable-forestry initiatives and the creation of new nature reserves in the Andes, on the Caribbean coast and on the Llanos, or plains, along the Orinoco... [Log in to read more]