Gabon restructures debt through Nature Conservancy to fund marine conservation project -report
The Bloomberg report follows a story from the outlet last year that TNC will look to finance a project by buying bonds and then selling debt to Gabon at a lower interest rate and with a longer maturity.
The differential will be used to fund marine conservation at around $5 million a year for about 15 years, and a fund will be created to finance programs after that date, according to the news agency’s story from October.
In a statement on Friday, TNC said it’s “pleased that Gabonese leaders see value in conservation, but we’re unable to discuss projects that the nation may be pursuing”.
Bloomberg reported the deal is set to be announced in July.
Debt-for-nature swaps are emerging as an increasingly popular approach to address the triple crises of developing nation debt, biodiversity loss, and climate change.
Earlier this week, Ecuador closed a debt-for-nature deal that included a $656-mln bond for conservation of the Galapagos Islands.
Meanwhile, Gabon, along with Mongolia, announced its commitment to pursue a project finance for permanence (PFP) deal in collaboration with the TNC during the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal last December.
Gabon plans to protect 30% of its terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats by 2030 after it joined the High Ambition Coalition, a group of over 100 countries advocating for a global commitment through the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
But the central African country is, among several others, also pushing for the inclusion of a 30% goal for freshwater, creating a 30:30:30 goal.
Offshore, Gabon has already established 20 marine protected areas across 20,060 square miles (51,955 sq km), which represent about 26% of its ocean territory, according to the TNC, which began working in the country nine years ago with a focus of freshwater.
The non-profit body is already working in the country with a local partner, Organisation Ecologique des Lacs et de l’Ogooue (OELO), to conduct early initiatives in community-based conservation around Lake Oguemoue and other areas.
The Gabon PFP deal falls under the umbrella of Enduring Earth, a collaboration of the TNC, The Pew Charitable Trusts, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the philanthropic enterprise ZOMALAB, which have a goal to raise $4 billion over the rest of the decade to launch a portfolio of 20 large conservation initiatives across the planet.
The first Enduring Earth deal was announced last year when WWF secured $245 mln of public and private finance to permanently protect 32 mln hectares of Colombia.
But the model has been tried and tested over two decades in several large TNC- and WWF-led projects in Canada, Costa Rica, the Brazilian Amazon, Bhutan, and Peru.
Gabon is keen to monetise its natural resources in the fight against climate change.
Last month, UK-based Woodbois was verbally awarded a 40-year land lease by the Gabon government that will allow it to implement an afforestation project it says can generate 30 million carbon credits over the next four decades.
The award is conditional on the completion of lease documentation, and a four-year, 2,00-ha pilot programme will have to be carried out to demonstrate the land’s afforestation potential before Woodbois can get the green light to utilise the full 50,000 ha (500 sq km).
The Gabonese government is separately trying to sell nearly 91 mln carbon credits from its UN REDD results over the 2010-18 period, though several stakeholders have said these units are not of sufficient integrity to be treated as offsets.
By Paddy Gourlay paddy@carbon-pulse.com