Swapping Debt for Ocean Conservation – Pacific Standard

The Small Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles, located 800 miles off the east coast of Africa, recently announced two new marine reserves made possible by a groundbreaking financing program that could serve as a model for how to fund more ocean conservation in the developing world.

The new reserves, one step in the nation’s longer-term marine conservation plans, include the Aldabra atoll, one of the largest coral atolls in the world and home to a number of endangered and vulnerable species, including dugongs and the hawksbill sea turtle.