DEBT-FGR-NATURE SWAPS
Leslie], Burlingamehomas Lovejoy (WWF-US) proposed the inno-
vative idea of debt-for-nature swaps in 1984
as a way to generate funds for conservation in
less developed countries (LDCs). By the mid-1980s,
LDCs had borrowed enormous amounts from private
banks of more developed countries (MDCs). One of
the easiest ways for LDCs to repay interest and loans
was to convert their natural resources (e.g., rain for-
ests) into cash. Thus, debt burden was indirectly a
cause of deforestation. Private MDC banks realized
there was little chance of getting their money back and
traded discounted debt in a secondary market. The
debt-for-nature swaps began when conservation
groups (e.g., WWF, TNG, and Conservation Interna-
tional, CI) bought discounted debt with tax-free con-
tributions. Some of the Costa Rican debt purchases
were also funded by foundations (e.g., the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation) and by foreign
aid programs of Sweden and The Netherlands. They
could buy discounted debt from an MDC bank and
then multiply that money for conservation. The in-
terest-bearing bonds issued in local currency by the
central bank of the indebted country, although not
equal to the face value of the debt, were worth more
than the discounted amount for which they had beenpurchased (The Nature Conservancy N.d., Umana and
Brandon 1992, World Resources Institute et al. 1992).
Bolivia and Ecuador were the first countries to
participate in debt-for-nature swaps (1987). Costa Rica
has carried out the greatest number of swaps and has
retired 5% of its foreign debt in this manner (Klinger
1994). The first of these swaps, arranged in 1988 by
Alvaro Umana, Costa Rica's Minister of MIRENEM,
retired $5.4 million of debt. At that time, one dollar
of Costa Rican debt could be purchased for 15-17
cents (Fuller and Williamson 1988). By 1991, six
Costa Rican debt swaps had generated about $43 mil-
lion plus interest for conservation through contri-
butions of $12.5 million, which purchased almost $80
million of Costa Rica's debt (Umana and Brandon
1992, World Resources Institute et al. 1992). The
Fundacion de Parques Nacionales, a nongovernmen-
tal organization, was established to receive these
funds and other contributions, exchange debt swap
money for bonds issued by the Central Bank of Costa
Rica, disburse interest and principal to Costa Rican
conservation organizations such as MCL, and moni-
tor accounting and management of funds (MCL Tapir
Tracks, vol. 3, no. 1, 1988, Larrea and Umana N.d.,
Umana and Brandon 1992).THE COMMUNITY PROCESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Guillerrno Vargas (translated by Leslie J. Burlingame)ome consider that environmental education
began in the zone with the creation of the MCFP
and the formation of local conservation orga-
nizations. Others trace the birth of a conservation
culture in Monteverde and the roots of a culture that
evolved toward harmony between human communi-
ties and their natural surroundings to the arrival of
the Quakers, or to the distant past of the colonists from
the first half of this century. What motivated many
campesinos (peasants) to leave strips of forest next to
springs and rivers? How could our forebears grow
corn, beans, vegetables, sugarcane, coffee, and other
crops with a minimal use of agrochemicals? Why are
there still farms that retain patches of forest on land
suitable for agriculture? How did the local commu-nity learn to limit the use of fire in the preparation of
the soil and to obtain economic benefit from the for-
est without cutting it? Through the process of living,
the campesino families of yesterday and today devel-
oped systems of production that satisfy their needs
by relying on their knowledge and skills and on the
available resources. These systems are based on con-
cepts that they learned in school, from their families,
in their community, through the media, and in reli-
gious beliefs.
Some of their actions are now considered environ-
mentally damaging and not ecologically sustainable.
They have cut the forest on steep slopes and replaced
it with pastures and crops, used fire to control weeds
and to eliminate the residue from forest cutting, left377 Conservation in the Monteverde ZoneT
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