Costa Rica’s greenhouse-gas absorbing forests and its world-renowned wildlife, including scarlet macaws, jaguars and endangered sea turtles, are the intended beneficiaries of a US$26 million debt-for-nature swap brokered last month with the United States. Under the agreement, the United States forgives $26 million in Costa Rican debt, requiring in return that the funds be used to protect the country’s most important wild areas. The United States has completed 13 such deals in a dozen countries under the terms of the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998. Of those, this latest U.S.-Costa Rica debt-for-nature swap is the largest. “We reduce Costa Rica’s debt, and at the same time generate financing to support conservation,” says David Henifin, counselor... [Log in to read more]