Debt for nature swaps – which nature, how much and who pays?

Financially viable means to conserve biodiversity are urgently needed. We analyze how debt-for-nature swaps could conserve currently unprotected biodiversity priority-areas for six biomes in 67 countries under the debt service suspension initiative related to COVID19. Using novel methods and data, we find that the 67 countries hold over 22% of global priority-areas, yet 82.96% is unprotected. For 35 of the 67 countries, swapping 0.1% of public debt could conserve 100% of unprotected priority-areas. By swapping 5.09% of these countries’ total public debt (USD26.5 billion) in a pooled swap, 100% of priority-areas could be protected across the countries. Management costs could partly be covered through re-routed interest payments within the countries, with further annual funding of USD0.5-3.5 billion required. One-Sentence Summary: We develop a framework for efficient application of debt-for-nature swaps to maximize biodiversity conservation.