So what are debt-for-nature swaps? Thomas Lovejoy conceived them in 1984 in the wake of the Latin American debt crisis. Basically, an NGO buys a poor country's debt from a rich country at a discounted rate. The rate of the discount is usually determined by the risk of default on the loan. The poor country's government then negotiates acceptable biodiversity protection paybacks with an in-country foundation created by the deal. In the first ever debt-for-nature swap, Conservation International bought a bad $650,000 debt that Bolivia owed Citicorp. They paid just $100,000 for the debt, and then they got Bolivia to protect 3.7 million acres of rainforest in exchange for writing the debt off.

Madagascar recently signed an historic debt-for-nature swap with the French Government. France forgave the $20 million it is owed by Madagascar in exchange of the protection of Madagascar's incredible biodiversity. According to WWF, the most recent Madagascar agreement:

"… is part of Madagascar's ambitious national effort, pledged by President Ravalomanana, to triple the size of the country's protected areas. The funds will be managed through the Foundation for Protected Areas and Biodiversity—a conservation trust fund established by WWF, Conservation International and the Government of Madagascar to support the country's distinct ecosystems and extraordinary wildlife. With this agreement, the fund has reached its endowment target of $50 million."

$50 million is an unprecedented level of funding and conservation in Madagascar. It is these creative conservation actions that are needed to build capacity to actually do conservation, rather than just talk about it. The USA has participated in many debt for nature swaps through the Tropical Forests Conservation Act. The act has generated $135 million for forest conservation in Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and the Philippines. Accumulated from all sources around the world, debt-for-nature swaps have generated more than a billion dollars for conservation.