Bertarelli Summer2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 50
ECO NO M ICS
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RE W I L D I NG
In general, debt-for-nature swaps have huge potential because we know a lot of the countries at the frontline of climate change are in debt, and some have a risk
of default. So as a creditor, if there is that risk then you
want to get something out of your investment in return.
Verdun: These big deals take time, but we need them
to get to the kind of scale we’re talking about. We hear
about individual island restoration, but how do we
go to thousands of islands, or tens of thousands of
islands? We need these big deals. But at the same time,
the communities that depend on these places have
to be front and center. That doesn’t mean we have to
flood them with money, but it does mean making sure
they’re in the driver’s seat and they are the ones being
empowered and it isn’t something being done to them,
so to speak.
Another initiative that’s picking up popularity is debtfor-nature swaps, and in particular, a debt-for-nature
swap negotiated by Ecuador which saw it create a new
“Galapagos Bond.” Can you tell us how Fundacíon
Jocotoco has benefited from this? What are the potential for these debt-for-nature swaps?
Schaefer: It has helped us tremendously. With the
support of Re:wild, we lobbied for it and our government partners at the Ministry of Environment were
all for it, but it never went anywhere until we had
that mechanism of the debt-for-nature swap which
brought the Ministry of Finance on board. A key thing
we did was work with communities so that they were
the ones asking for that change, and building up that
social pressure made the government work and move
forward on it.
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H ENR I L ED UC / S H UT TER STO CK
WILDLIFE AT WORK Flamingos, a bird native to the area, feeding and resting on Floreana Island in the Galapagos.
The Fundacíon Jocotoco is attempting to rewild the island to protect the native wildlife, in part by eradicating invasive
species brought to the island by humans.
