U.S. and Philippines sign new $ 31.8-M "Debt-For-Nature" Fund Agreements

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 25): U.S. and Philippines sign new $ 31.8-M "Debt-For-Nature" Fund Agreements
 
U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr., and Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima signed on July 18, 2013 two agreements governing a new US$ 31.8 million (approximately P1.34 billion) "debt-for-nature" deal, authorized under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA).

The agreements will redirect approximately US$ 31.8 million in debt payments owed by the Philippines to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) toward conservation and will establish a Second Tropical Forest Conservation Fund.

This Fund will be used to provide grants to conserve, maintain and restore key tropical forests in the country, with particular and priority emphasis on the Sierra Madre, Samar and Leyte, Palawan Islands and Bukidnon/ Misamis areas.

In addition to helping to preserve the Philippines extraordinary terrestrial biodiversity, the Fund will contribute to international climate change mitigation efforts.

In 2002, the U.S. and the Philippines signed a bilateral debt reduction agreement under the TFCA wherein the U.S. treated US$ 8.1 million in outstanding loan interest which the Philippines used to create a fund for the conservation of tropical forests in the country.

The first Tropical Forest Conservation Fund, managed by the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation (PTFCF), has supported 261 conservation projects with US$ 4.5 million in grants.

The projects improved the management of approximately 1.3 million hectares of forest lands, restored over 3,400 hectares of forests through the re-introduction of native trees and established 40 community-based conservation areas.

This Second Tropical Forest Conservation Fund supports the five-year Partnership for Growth (PFG) initiative signed by the U.S. and the Philippines in November 2011.

The Philippines is one of only four countries chosen to participate in the PFG program, which aims to mobilize the resources of both governments to address the most serious constraints to economic growth and development in the Philippines.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=0&sid=&nid=0&rid=548053