Blue Bond

The Blue Bond initiative, in collaboration with TNC gives Belize a head start in its marine conservation effort, while looking to the 2025 PFP.  Belize’s effort with the Blue Bond through TNC was also highlighted at today’s side event in Glasgow. PM Briceño and CEO Jennifer Morris both hailed the approach.

Prime Minister John Briceño

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Many small countries have borrowed too much, and COVID 19 has made it even more difficult. In effect, in our case in Belize, Belize’s debt is about a hundred and thirty five percent of GDP. And, here is one instance where we have a private debt at about fifty hundred and fifty million US dollars, owned by private individuals that we managed to sit down with them and negotiate to pay them off.  We are paying them off at a substantial discount. By doing that we are having one of the first where a country is negotiating debt forgiveness but also getting funding for conservation.”

Jennifer Morris

Jennifer Morris, CEO, The Nature Conservancy

“We want to solve, help countries solve two big problems. One, in the case, as Prime Minister Briceño was mentioning, their debt crisis. And, obviously with COVID, a county that is so reliant on tourism like Dominica, and Belize, and Costa Rica, I was just in Kenya, saw exactly the same thing. We as conservationist have thought for so long, look ecotourism is the best, it’s amazing, you’re preserving nature, you get people to come and be educated about nature. It is great until you have a global pandemic, then it’s not a great choice for your economic model, if that is all you have. So what we are seeing and trying to help in Belize, is a model where we can take some of that debt burden and transition it into a conservation win.”