Jessica Pothering

Jessica is a business and finance writer, focusing on impact investing, social entrepreneurship and economic development. She previously reported for financial publications covering the global private equity, real estate and insurance markets.

Last years deal between the Seychelles government and The Nature Conservancys NatureVest unit was touted as a game changer for climate finance (see, Debt-for-Nature Swaps Let Impact Investors Finance Climate Resilience).

Behind the scenes, philanthropic grants helped convince the Seychelles to do the dealand could be the key to engineering future deals for overburdened, climate-vulnerable countries.

A new case study from Convergence, the blended-finance matchmaker, found that $5 million in grants from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, China Global Conservation Fund, and others enabled the Seychelles to raise their commitment to marine conservation.

NatureVest helped the Seychelles restructure $21.6 million in sovereign debt. In turn, the Seychelles agreed to a large marine protected area in the West Indian Ocean and created a permanent fund for climate adaptation efforts.

There are at least 15 other small island countries with high debt loads that are vulnerable to climate change.

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Photo credit: Visualitineraries.com

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Behind the scenes of the Seychelles debt-for-nature deal ... - ImpactAlpha (registration)