This US Law Has Been Protecting Tropical Forests for 25 Years
- Date: 19 March 2024
Today’s episode marks International Day of Forests (March 21) by celebrating the 25th anniversary of a little-known but important US law: the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act, or TFCCA. At its core, the TFCCA was designed to facilitate debt-for-nature swaps, which enable developing countries to restructure the debt they owe to the US in a way that relieves their financial burden in exchange for redirecting a portion of the funds toward conservation. These swaps were conceptualized in the 1980s by Dr. Tom Lovejoy, WWF’s first chief scientist, and proved to be remarkably successful and popular.
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Today’s episode features a conversation with Esteban Brenes, WWF’s senior director for conservation finance, about the history of debt-for-nature swaps (2:18), how conservation funds get disbursed under the TFCCA (4:25), and some examples of specific debt-for-nature swaps that have delivered results (8:01). Esteban also shares some lessons learned from the last 25 years of implementing this law, and how those lessons can be applied going forward (14:30).
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