[English] A Conversation with President of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso скачать в хорошем качестве

[English] A Conversation with President of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso

Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, is a trailblazer in marine conservation and environmental protection. During his time in office, President Guillermo Lasso has made a series of historic decisions to defend his country’s natural spaces and address the global climate crisis. Best known is Lasso’s expansion of the marine protected area at the Galápagos Islands. That project won Ecuador global attention, not only because it significantly improved environmental safeguards around the storied Galápagos Islands, but because of how Ecuador will pay for the added costs of conservation: through the biggest “debt-for-nature” swap in history, a $656 million “blue bond” backed by the US Development Finance Corporation, the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, Mission Blue, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Under Lasso, Ecuador also teamed up with Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama to strengthen the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, an innovative multinational marine protected area, where the marine ecosystem is threatened by industrial scale illegal fishing.