Debt-for-nature Swaps in Belize and the Galapagos

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 A new generation of debt-for-nature swaps has emerged as a “win-win” tool to reduce sovereign

debt while advancing conservation commitments such as protecting 30 percent of national land

and ocean areas by 2030 under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Yet

there remains a limited understanding of how the benefits and burdens of these conservation

obligations are shared among stakeholders, and limited capacity to monitor and evaluate conservation outcomes.

In the past 10 years, debt for nature swaps have occurred in the Seychelles, Belize, Ecuador, Barbados, Gabon, Indonesia, The Bahamas, and El Salvador, and continue to be announced. 

As part of an interdisciplinary team at Duke University, I am researching the social and conservation impact of these swaps and opportunities for improvement. I lead a project evaluating the social equity of debt‑for‑nature swaps in Belize, the Galápagos, and the Amazon, in which we adapted and piloted the Ocean Equity Index. We are now analyzing qualitative and quantitative data from over 40 interviews we conducted with fishers, government officials, indigenous leaders, conservation NGOs, blue businesses, and tourism representatives. Our objective is to produce policy recommendations for the governments and conservation organizations implementing these swaps for their continued improvement. I additionally conceived and developed a spatial analysis tool to evaluate the effectiveness of blue bond financing on industrial fishing reduction in Ecuador's Hermandad Marine Reserve using Global Fishing Watch data, available in this story map.