American Legislature Approves Debt Relief for Tropical Forest Conservation

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

3/19/98

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

As reported on earlier, support for tropical conservation has come

from somewhat unlikely quarters. American legislative leaders have

introduced and then passed a bill that allows tropical countries to

reduce debts to the United States by protecting their tropical

forests. The bill must still be passed by the Senate. This is a

fabulous step towards recognizing the global significance of

conserving tropical forests, and freeing up the resources from

developed countries to make this possible.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: House approves debt relief for tropical forest conservation

Source: Associated Press

Date: March 19, 1998

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Developing countries around the world would be able

to reduce debts to the United States by protecting their tropical

forests under legislation that passed the House Thursday.

Called "debt-for-nature" swaps, the measure expands a program set up

in the Bush administration that allowed Latin American countries to

trade debt for investment in the environment.

"This legislation is creative problem-solving at its best," said Rep.

Tony Hall, D-Ohio. It "is a win for the people of the developing

nations and a win for the global environment at a relatively low

cost."

The bill, which passed 356-61, authorizes $325 million over three

years for programs to help developing countries with debts to, for

example, the Agency for International Development or the Agriculture

Department.

It also offers cost-free "debt buybacks" under which countries could

buy back their debt in exchange for spending up to 40 percent of that

purchase cost for tropical forest protection.

Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the author of the legislation, said half the

world's tropical forests have disappeared since 1950 and that every

year an additional 30 million to 40 million acres, the size of the

state of Ohio, are lost.

"Instead of just writing off those debts as we do now, this bill will

ensure that the United States receives something vitally important in

return -- tangible conservation efforts in those countries

to protect these essential forests."

Seventy-six countries have tropical forests, although half those

forests are located in the four countries of Brazil, Indonesia, Peru

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Half of all known species of

plants and animals live in tropical forests, which are also

storehouses for new medicines and essential to the slowing of global

warming.

As a condition for participating in the program, a country must have a

government that is democratically elected, keeps a good record in

human rights and fighting drugs and has implemented economic reforms.

The bill, which has the support of the administration, must still be

considered by the Senate.

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