The concept of debt-for-nature swaps (DFNSs) was first introduced in the 1980s for conversion of debt owed to creditors by developing countries that were unable to service their external debt. Over the past 30 years, a whole range of different debt treatment operations has been developed under the umbrella of DFNSs involving both commercial debt and debt to official creditors that could be swapped for commitments related to nature. Since the early 2000s and until several years ago, DFNSs have not had much traction, partially due to a shift toward supporting developing countries through various initiatives such as HIPC/MDRI or DSSI, and partially due to a fairly long period of low interest rates. However, recent geopolitical, economic and…
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