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Assignment: Belize's blue bond

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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)

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