Indonesia and US Sign USD35 Million Debt-for-Nature Swap

Indonesia, the United States (US), and leading environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have signed a groundbreaking debt-for-nature swap.

IDXChannel - Indonesia, the United States (US), and leading environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have signed a groundbreaking debt-for-nature swap to protect Indonesia’s precious coral reef ecosystems.

It will redirect USD35 million of Indonesia’s debt into an investment in coral reef conservation. It is the fourth agreement between US and Indonesia under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act and the first focused primarily on coral ecosystems.

“This agreement is a testament to the strong bilateral relationship between the United States and Indonesia and our continued deepening engagement under the US-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” said the US Charge d’Affaires (CDA) Michael F Kleine in a media release on Tuesday (9/7/2024).

“By forgiving this debt and redirecting the funds back to Indonesia through this debt-for-nature swap, we are taking concrete action to protect Indonesia’s invaluable coral reefs and support sustainable development," Kleine added.

Indonesia is home to 16 percent of the world’s coral reef areas and approximately 60 percent of the world’s coral species. 

Coral reefs provide food, livelihoods, and storm protection for just under half of the world’s population, but approximately 75 percent of coral reefs worldwide are threatened.  

The focus area of the activities will be at Lesser-Sunda, Banda, and Bird’s Head Seascapes. Priorities include conserving globally threatened or endemic species that depend on coral reef ecosystems for critical habitat; protecting threatened or vulnerable coral reef ecosystems of high conservation value;  promoting sustainable use of coral reef biodiversity; reducing the threat to, or increasing the connectivity between, coral reef areas; creating new protected areas as appropriate; and directly contributing to the improved management of existing public, private, municipal, or communal protected areas and their conservation targets. (WHY)