保护、开发与蓝色边疆——塞舌尔共和国为保护海洋和适应气候而采取的债务重组计划

Conservation,development and the blue frontier:the Republic of Seychelles’Debt Restructuring for Marine Conservation and Climate Adaptation Program

小岛屿发展中国家(SIDS)专属经济区被定位为试验新的海洋养护和发展治理安排的边疆。本文考察了这样一种安排,即“为海洋保护和气候适应而进行的债务重组计划”,该计划由大自然保护协会(Nature Conservancy)的“自然投资”(NatureVest)部门与塞舌尔共和国政府合作组织。计划对购买、重组和免除塞舌尔2160万美元债务作了安排,据称该计划的实现部分取决于私人“影响力投资者”。塞舌尔政府方面,承诺在其专属经济区的整个范围内进行海洋空间规划,并在各种用途中指定15%为“禁捕”大型海洋保护区。在回顾了关于盈利性生物多样性保护、大规模海洋治理及小岛屿发展中国家债务和可持续发展的文献后,我们的分析追踪了重组计划的核心部分交易。我们认为,这种安排与塞舌尔正在进行的更为广泛的经济自由化密不可分,它将专属经济区作为债务重组中的一项资产,而2160万美元的数字反映了多边谈判的特征,而不仅是目前受到保护的生态系统/服务的“真正”价值。目前尚不清楚这种安排是否应当(或者将会)得到复制。

The Exclusive Economic Zones(EEZs)of Small Island Developing States(SIDS)are posited as a frontier for testing novel ocean conservation and development governance arrangements.This paper examines one arrangement,the Debt Restructuring for Marine Conservation and Climate Adaptation Program,convened by the NatureVest division of the Nature Conservancy in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Seychelles.The arrangement purchases,restructures,and relieves the Seychelles of US$21.6 million in debt and is said to rest in part on private“impact investors”.For its part,the Government of Seychelles commits to marine spatial planning throughout the full extent of its EEZ,and,among various uses,to designating 15 per cent as a‘no-take’large marine protected area.After reviewing literature on for-profit biodiversity conservation,large-scale ocean governance,and SIDS’debt and sustainable development,our analysis traces the exchanges at the heart of the arrangement.We argue that the arrangement is inseparable from a broader economic liberalization ongoing in the Seychelles,that it enrols the EEZ as an asset in that restructuring,and that the US$21.6 million figure reflects multilateral negotiation more than the“true”value of the ecosystems/services now protected.It is unclear whether the arrangement should(or will)be replicated.