Original version

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Assignment

Factual

Investigations and journeys into the heart of global events from BBC correspondents.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

Assignment: Belize's blue bond

Documentaries

News

Assignment_FOH_photo.jpg

24/08/2023 GMT

Belize's blue bond

BBC World Service - Assignment, Belize's blue bond

Can a financial deal with a conservation charity save Belize's economy?

Can a financial deal with an American conservation charity save Belize's indebted economy?

In 2020 Belize was broke. Again. This small, climate-vulnerable, Central American nation is home to the western hemisphere’s longest barrier reef. And it was about to default on a debt of over half a billion dollars. Enter an American NGO... The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is the world’s largest conservation charity. TNC made an offer to the government of Belize: it would help restructure the debt, if Belize would channel the savings made into its precious coastal resources. In 2021, the deal became reality – creditors were paid off, and investors found for the new, so-called ‘blue bond.’ Belize’s debt shrank by 12% overnight. A win-win, right?

But as Linda Pressly finds on a trip to Belize for Assignment, the ‘blue bond’ hasn’t been universally welcomed. There are concerns about an international NGO having influence in a poor nation, and arguments about which Belizean marine organisations have benefitted from the new investment. And there is one unresolved question: what does the ‘blue bond’ agreement mean for the potential future exploration of offshore oil in Belizean waters?

Presented and produced by Linda Pressly
Sound engineer: Neil Churchill
Series Editor: Penny Murphy

 
(Image: Replanting corals to restore Belize’s barrier reef is critical work in an era of climate emergency. Credit: Fragments of Hope)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Assignment

Belize's blue bond

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service