Thursday, October 5, 2006

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar praised today’s announcement that the Bush Administration has completed the first debt-for-nature agreement in Africa under the Lugar-Biden Tropical Rain Forest Conservation Act (TFCA).

The agreement signed today with the government of Botswana will reduce debt payments that country owes the U.S. by $8.3 million. In return, the government of Botswana has committed these funds over the next 10 years to support grants to conserve and restore important tropical forests throughout the country including such world famous areas as the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park region.

“The United States has a significant national interest in protecting tropical forests in developing countries,” said Lugar. “Tropical forests regulate the hydrological cycle on which world agriculture depends. The genetic diversity contained in tropical forests is important for plant breeding. Twenty-five percent of prescription drugs come from tropical forests.”

“The Tropical Forest Conservation Act addresses the economic pressures on developing countries through ‘debt-for-nature’ mechanisms that reduce foreign debt while leveraging scarce funds for international conservation,” said Lugar. “An agreement with Botswana is particularly significant and an important milestone for African conservation.”

According to the U.S. State Department statement: “The forests covered by the agreement with Botswana include closed canopy tree cover, riverine forests and dry acacia forests. They are home to the fishing owl, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus and many other wildlife species. People living in and around these forests and their future generations depend on them for their livelihood and survival.”

The “debt-for-nature swap” legislation was authored by Senators Lugar (R-IN) and Joe Biden (D-DE and ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee) in 1998 and reauthorized in 2004. It provides opportunities for eligible developing countries to reduce concessional debts owed the United States while generating funds to conserve their forests. The agreement with Botswana marks the 11th debt-for-nature pact concluded under the Bush Adminstration, following agreements with Belize, Columbia, El Salvador, Guatamala, Jamaica, Panama (2), Paraguay, Peru and the Philippines. These agreements, together with another TFCA agreement concluded with Bangladesh in 2000, will generate over $135 million to protect tropical forests in developing countries.

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