How Belize Cut Its Debt by Fighting Global Warming

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/07/world/americas/belize-coral-reef-preservation.html

By Anatoly Kurmanaev, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: ...Under the blue bonds deal, the Nature Conservancy, a Virginia-based nonprofit, lent Belize more than $350 million to enable the Central American nation to buy back international bonds worth more than half a billion dollars. ...The deal freed up more than $200 million, or nearly a tenth of Belize’s annual economic output, to be spent in other areas. In exchange, Belize agreed to designate 30 percent of its waters as protected, limiting the extent of activities such as fishing and construction. It also committed to spending $4.2 million a year on preserving these areas’ biodiversity. Proponents of the deal hope the financial and climate incentives will help small or poor nations escape the interrelated challenges of excessive debt and environmental degradation, opening a path to sustainable growth.…

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