Ecuador wants to monetize its biodiversity while still drilling for oil
Ecuador is pursuing innovative green finance mechanisms to fund conservation across its ecosystems while navigating its heavy economic reliance on fossil fuels. Environment and Energy Minister Juan Carlos Blum outlined plans to issue the nation's first sovereign green bonds in 2027 with advice from the European Union, and to host the United Nations COP18 biodiversity summit in 2028. These efforts build on two debt-for-nature swaps in 2023 and 2024 that freed approximately $1.1 billion for conservation in the Galapagos and Amazon, as well as a $120 million biodiversity bond issued in March by IDB Invest and Banco Bolivariano.
The country is also exploring biodiversity credits, introduced at Quito's Bio Summit to finance a 260-hectare reserve in Guayaquil. Unlike carbon offsets, these instruments directly fund verified ecosystem preservation rather than compensating for emissions.
However, conservation goals conflict with Ecuador's ongoing resource exploitation. Oil and oil products generated roughly 80% of the country's energy in 2024. Despite widespread protests from Indigenous leaders over newly opened oil exploration tenders in the Amazon, the government continues to extract oil and minerals, leaving Blum with the delicate challenge of balancing resource revenue against environmental protection.
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