Under the watchful eye of the Nature Conservancy, Costa Rica and America have brokered the largest ever debt-for-nature swap in history. The deal, worth $26 million of Costa Rica’s US debt, will go to help revitalize some of the world’s richest natural treasures.

To be enacted on over the next 16 years, the US, in conjunction with Conservation International and the Nature Conservancy, will pool together to forgive $26 million of debt.

"This debt swap is unique in that it utilizes scientific analysis to determine the sites towards which the funds will be directed,” says Zdenka Piskulich, program director for the Conservancy in Costa Rica.

A debt swap is simply the forgiving of debts for a developing nation by one of its creditors. In exchange, along with any other agreements emplaced – in Costa Rica’s case, they must cooperate with Washington with counterterrorism and drug-enforcement – they must redirect what would have been debt payments towards environmental goals.

Though a small country in size its contents makes Costa Rica one of the most important environmental nations on the planet. It is home to some of the largest areas of concentrated biodiversity on the planet, including tropical forests, jaguars, quetzals, scarlet macaws, howler monkeys, tree frogs and much more.

The jaguar is considered near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and is already on the US Endangered Species Act. Its population is in decline, and despite the subsequent stoppage of shooting the animal for its pelt, its natural habitat has slowly been eked away by land developers.

Logging, development, agricultural expansion, gold mining, overfishing and unregulated tourism are just a few of the dangers being placed upon Costa Rica’s natural habitats.

"The funding that is a result of this debt swap will also allow local communities, 80 percent of which live in The Amistad Region, to pursue sustainable and economically viable livelihoods, thus improving their lives and sustaining the biodiverse resources on which they depend," said Piskulich.

The $26 million is already designated to six areas of the country, chosen from a blueprint of conservation gaps that the Conservancy helped create for Costa Rica. These areas are the Osa Peninsula, Tortuguero, La Amistad, Maquenque, Zona Norte del Rincón de la Vieja and the Nicoya Peninsula,

These regions are specifically targeted to help endangered species and to halt the encroachment that is being made on the lush rainforests. The Osa Peninsula is where rain forest meets sea in the Southwest corner of Costa Rica and The Amistad region contains the largest untouched tract of rainforest in Costa Rica. Both regions are also home to animals such as the Baird’s tapir, Scarlet Macaw, the ocelot, and more than 500 species of bird.

“There’s a double benefit for these countries,” Claudia A. McMurray, assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment and science, said in a telephone interview. “They get some or all of their debt wiped out, and they get help in preserving an important natural resource.”

Costa Rica is known as a success story in Central America when it comes to environmental management, after the country’s deforestation stripped it of almost 80% of its forest cover. The country has made big steps towards replanting, and environmental groups are right behind them.

New York Times - U.S. Forgives Costa Rican Debt to Help Environment

Nature Conservancy

USAID - Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA)

Image courtesy of Nature Conservancy