International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2020

 

Conservation, development and the blue frontier: the Republic of Seychelles’ Debt Restructuring for Marine Conservation and Climate Adaptation Program (Abstract)

 

Jennifer J. Silver and Lisa M. Campbell

 

The Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are posited as a frontier for testing novel ocean conservation and development governance arrangements. This paper examines one arrangement, the Debt Restructuring for Marine Conservation and Climate Adaptation Program, convened by the NatureVest division of the Nature Conservancy in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Seychelles. The arrangement purchases, restructures, and relieves the Seychelles of US$21.6 million in debt and is said to rest in part on private “impact investors”. For its part, the Government of Seychelles commits to marine spatial planning throughout the full extent of its EEZ, and, among various uses, to designating 15 per cent as a ‘no-take’ large marine protected area. After reviewing literature on for-profit biodiversity conservation, large-scale ocean governance, and SIDS’ debt and sustainable development, our analysis traces the exchanges at the heart of the arrangement. We argue that the arrangement is inseparable from a broader economic liberalization ongoing in the Seychelles, that it enrols the EEZ as an asset in that restructuring, and that the US$21.6 million figure reflects multilateral negotiation more than the “true” value of the ecosystems/services now protected. It is unclear whether the arrangement should (or will) be replicated.