VICTORY! Debt Canceled to Preserve Peru Rainforests

A new agreement between Peru and the United States relieves Peru of it’s debt in exchange for protecting some 27.5 million acres of the World’s most biologically diverse rainforests.

In this “debt-for-nature swap,” the Peruvian government commits to give local conservation groups the funds necessary to conserve “the heart of the western Amazon”, an area the size of Virginia or Cuba. That amounts to about $10 million in local currency. The U.S., in return, cancels $5.5 million of Peru’s debt, saving them about $14 million in future payments.

It’s a first – leading U.S. conservation organizations – Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund – committed over $1 million to the transaction. This enables them to oversee and provide technical expertise on how and where the funds are used.

The funds provide very important reliable long-term funding for Peruvian environmental groups to the tune of $500,000 a year. It will be used to establish and monitor protected areas, conservation training, research and provide livelihoods for indigenous people. The rainforest is threatened by logging, clear-cutting for agriculture, mining and oil and gas exploration.

This is a trifling amount of money to the U.S. and yet it goes such a long way to protect the world’s biodiversity. Imagine how easily the world could purchase the remaining “hot spots.” Glen Barry of Forests.org says, ” The debt-for-nature-swap model should be increased in scale exponentially. The entire debt of all interested developing countries should be forgiven in exchange for commitments to invest in sustainable development and environmental protection. The burden of debt repayment intensifies the pace of ecosystem collapse, breeding social unrest which leads to conflict, poverty and greater ecological decline. This cycle must be broken.”

Source: CNN, 7/16/2002: Debt canceled to preserve Peru rainforests

From Forest Conservation News Today: www.Forests.org