19 May 2008

U.S. Program Helps Save Tropical Forests, Cut Foreign Debt

Nature-for-debt swap helps nations in developing world preserve forestland

Survival of species like this Panamanian golden frog, shown in a zoo exhibit, is threatened by deforestation. (© AP Images)

By Eric Green
Staff Writer

Washington -– Supporters of a U.S. conservation program enacted in 1998 call it a "win-win" deal that helps protect the global environment while promoting the economies of the developing world.

Twelve countries are partners with the United States under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), which aims to help save the world's tropical forests by forgiving some of the official debt owed to the United States by the nations that have tropical forests.

This so-called "debt-for-nature swap" also strengthens civil society by providing small grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local communities. The TFCA is run largely by three U.S. government agencies -- the State and Treasury departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Clay Lowery, Treasury's assistant secretary for international affairs, says the TFCA is "special in a couple of ways. It provides very long-term, predictable funding for forest conservation," and "also provides for a strong private/public partnership in managing TFCA programs."

The United States has signed 13 TFCA agreements overall in the 12 countries (two with Panama). Besides Panama, other countries in the program are Bangladesh, Botswana, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru and the Philippines.

Claudia McMurray, the State Department’s assistant secretary of oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, told an audience in Cape Town, South Africa, April 8 that the programs established by the TFCA agreements will generate $163 million over the next 10-25 years to protect 20 million hectares of biologically rich tropical rain forests.

McMurray said the benefits of the TFCA come at a small cost to the United States and a “great benefit for all who care about the environment."

Costa Rica was the latest country to sign a TFCA agreement with the United States in September 2007. The United States contributed more than $12.6 million to the Costa Rican agreement, while two NGOs, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy, gave a combined donation of more than $2.5 million. The agreement will reduce Costa Rica’s debt payments to the United States by $26 million over the next 16 years.

David Henifin, from the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, said at the signing ceremony for the Costa Rican TFCA agreement that the “world’s forests provide essential economic, social and environmental benefits to people.” Henifin, currently the embassy’s counselor for political affairs, said that forest loss “affects species biodiversity, deprives communities of their means of livelihood and depletes water resources. Whether we rely on forests for sustenance or for inspiration, forest loss leaves us all the poorer.”

MEASURING SUCCESS

USAID's James Hester told America.gov that the TFCA is an offshoot of the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, which was established in 1991 to deal with such issues as environmental protection, child survival and child development.

A tropical bird guards its nest at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve near Monteverde, Costa Rica. (© AP Images)

Hester serves as vice chair of the Enterprise for the Americas Board, which is the U.S. government/private-sector group that oversees the TFCA.

Hester said the United States is “very enthusiastic” about the TFCA’s “continuing and expanding success.”

He said that “we have a lot of hope for the future” that the TFCA “will continue to play a key role in addressing tropical deforestation, while finding ways for local people to develop and have economic opportunity, and that you can have” both environmental protection and economic progress simultaneously.

He also said the TFCA is another tool in “contributing to the answer to climate change” in maintaining forests rather than having them destroyed, which in turn reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air.

PROTECTING FORESTS, BUILDING CIVIL SOCIETY

The State Department says the TFCA benefits both the United States and other countries. For the United States, the program is a way to advance its goal of protecting forests worldwide. Beneficiary countries can "redirect" their debt payments from the U.S. government into local funds, which provide a "steady steam of financing to support forest conservation projects."

The TFCA also helps build civil society in developing countries by providing grants and other project funding to local community and conservation groups, which the State Department says has the added benefit of advancing the global democracy objectives of the United States.

NGOs such as the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International and the World Wildlife Fund together have contributed more than $9.6 million to the TFCA deals in some of the countries in the program.

The nongovernmental community praises the TFCA as bringing civil society into the process for saving the world's tropical forests while strengthening developing nations.

The Nature Conservancy’s Susan Ruffo said her organization has been a big supporter of the TFCA since its 1998 enactment.

Ruffo, the Nature Conservancy’s director of U.S. government relations, called the TFCA a “win-win situation” that protects the forests but also “benefits the communities that surround them.”

More information on the TFCA is available on the USAID Web site. The full text of McMurray’s April 8 speech is available on the State Department Web site.

See also the State Department electronic journal, Protecting the Environment.