Canje de deuda por naturaleza: la necesidad de una nueva agenda

Debt for nature swaps generally involve significant fiscal costs. As for the benefitsfor the developing country and its government, they are potentially ambiguous. Theprojects financed by the swaps typically involve the protection of exotic flora and fauna inwhich a considerable part of the social returns is externalized to the rest of the world. This,coupled with high social rates of discount in crisis-ridden developing countries, could meanthat the benefits accrued to the international community actually end up exceeding thoseperceived by the population at large in debtor country. Hence the need to reorient the internationalagenda for swaps so that the environmental projects financed by them have a moredirect impact on local population, e.g., control of urban air pollution and sewerage andindustrial contamination of rivers and seas. Meanwhile, in view of the great international externalities involved, the protection of exotic flora and fauna could be financed throughstraight donations that do not involve fiscal costs for the debtor country. JEL Classification: H63; Q50.