U.S. Forgives Costa
Rican Debt to Help
Environment
By Marc Lacey, New York
Times
The United States has
agreed to forgive us$26
million of Costa Rica’s
debt as part a
debt-for-nature swap
that will protect some
of the country’s most
threatened tropical
forests, officials said.
In a deal to be
announced on Wednesday,
the government of Costa
Rica has committed to
invest a similar amount
in conserving high-risk
natural areas that are
the home to such
threatened species as
jaguars, squirrel
monkeys and scarlet
macaws.
The United States
government will
contribute about us$12.6
million in financing as
part of the deal. Two
environmental groups,
Conservation
International and the
Nature Conservancy, will
contribute us$1.26
million each. Those
funds and the interest
they generate will be
enough to eliminate
us$26 million in Costa
Rica’s debt over the
next 16 years, officials
said.
That is the largest
amount of debt forgiven
and the 13th such deal
under the Tropical
Forest Conservation Act,
which was first enacted
in 1998.
“Debt-for-nature
agreements are a
successful model for
government and citizen
cooperation and should
encourage more
public-private
partnerships to further
the cause of global
conservation and
environmental
protection,” Treasury
Secretary Henry M.
Paulson Jr. said in a
statement.
The funds will help
protect important Costa
Rican natural areas
including the Osa
Peninsula, Tortuguero,
La Amistad, Maquenque,
Rincón de la Vieja and
the Nicoya Peninsula,
officials said.
“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.”
On top of that, Ms.
McMurray said, there are
the benefits to climate,
as forests play an
important role in
absorbing greenhouse
gasses.
To qualify for the
program Costa Rica had
to meet a series of
political and economic
requirements, including
cooperation with
Washington on drug
enforcement and
counterterrorism.
Costa Rica is one of the
success stories in
Central America when it
comes to environmental
management, although
challenges remain.
Deforestation stripped
the country of almost 80
percent of its forest
cover. But replanting
efforts have helped
reversed the trend,
environmental groups
say. |
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