Fishy Financing

Source: theguardian.com

The island nation of Seychelles has built two marine parks in return for a write off of the nation's debt. This deal was orchestrated by The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

TNC bought $22 million of debt from the UK, France, Belgium and Italy at a discount. They also raised $5 million from donors to pay off some of the debt. They negotiated for a cut in the interest rate charged for the outstanding government loan.

TNC's interest is in marine protection. Overfishing and killing of dolphins, sharks and turtles due to tuna net fishing has adversely affected the ocean. Building the marine parks provides fishing bans for critical areas.