Blue Bonds Debt Conversion Finalized

The Government of Belize and The Nature Conservancy today announced the finalization of its debt conversion agreement. The agreement will see hundreds of millions of dollars in savings and investments for marine conservancy in Belize.  Announcements of the agreement being forged ahead of COP26 in Glasgow Scotland set the stage for Belize’s officials currently at the conference. As world leaders seek to accelerate their efforts towards the fight against climate change, Belize is standing out, a large part due to its conservation agreement with TNC. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

It is getting Belize a lot of attention at COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland.

Kennedy Carrillo

Kennedy Carrillo, CEO, Ministry of Blue Economy,

“I will tell you that really Belize is the blue golden child at COP 26, the blue golden child at COP 26. I think we need to realize that everybody wants to hear about what’s happening in Belize.”

Belize’s renewed commitment to protect its coasts and marine ecosystem is backed by the Blue Bond initiative, a financial debt relief program for marine conservation developed by The Nature Conservancy.

Jennifer Morris

Jennifer Morris, CEO, The Nature Conservancy

“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.”

The Government of Belize and TNC today announced they have finalized the agreement. The transaction announced today restructures five hundred and fifty million dollars of Belize’s debt, leading to two hundred and fifty million US dollars in debt reduction, two hundred million US dollars in savings, and one hundred and eighty million US dollars in funding for conservation.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“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.”

The agreement is backed up by six hundred million dollar political risk insurance from the DFC to that covers both the loan principal and interest. Both government and nongovernmental organizations in marine protection will be eligible to apply for funds through an established Conservation Fund for Belize.

Andre Perez

Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy

“By recuperating and consolidating our natural spaces and ecosystems we can secure productive and sustainable fisheries, grow our nature based tourism sector, and strengthen our natural resilience to climate change.”

COP 26’s blue golden child lay the foundation ahead of the event through its Blue Bond efforts to attract further funding towards its national marine conservation efforts.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Little did I know, a year ago when we got elected that we would be working on something like this.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.