
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991                   TAG: 9102200226
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CONSERVATION PLEDGE REDUCES MEXICAN DEBT

An environmental group will pay off $4 million worth of Mexico's foreign debt in return for that nation's pledge to boost spending for conservation, according to an agreement signed Tuesday in Washington.

It was the first time Mexico had agreed to a so-called debt-for-nature swap, which many conservationists see as an important tool to help developing countries ease their economic burdens and devote more resources to the environment.

Mexico is one of the four "undisputed leaders" in what specialists call "megadiversity," great diversity of plants and animals, said Peter Seligmann, chairman of Conservation International, the environmental group that arranged the swap. The other three are Colombia, Brazil and Indonesia.

The 13 nations called "megadiversity countries" by the group contain 60 percent of the world's plant and animal species and are considered a particularly important target for conservation efforts.

- Associated Press

by CNB