The Financialization of Marine Conservation: The Case of Debt-for-Ocean Swaps

Andre Standing ()

Development, 2023, vol. 66, issue 1, 46-57

Abstract: Abstract The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest environmental NGO, has launched an audacious plan to negotiate debt-for-ocean swaps in Southern coastal and small island states, linked to the international pledge of 30 × 30. Representing an evolution from the debt-for-nature swaps popularized in the 1990s, these new variants are regularly praised as ingenious solutions to the debt and biodiversity crisis. Gabon is the latest country to have concluded a swap, bringing the total value of debt exchanged to over US$2.5 billion. However, there are several concerns about these opaque transactions from the perspective of debt justice and the democratic and equitable governance of marine resources. Debt-for-ocean swaps illustrate the pace at which financialization has transformed international approaches to conservation and the risks that this brings.

Keywords: Debt justice; Debt for nature swaps; Marine protected areas; Sovereign debt restructuring; Debt transparency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1057/s41301-023-00379-y

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