E Magazine is reporting that Guatemala and the United States of America have signed a landmark agreement that switches debt into forest conservation.
“Environmentalists around the globe are toasting a deal announced last week in which the U.S. government has agreed to forgive $24.4 million in debt from Guatemala to free up the money for use in forest conservation efforts there. Two leading international conservation nonprofits, the Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, were instrumental in putting the “debt-for-nature†together, and each organization also provided $1 million toward Guatemalan conservation initiatives to help sweeten the deal.”