How does rising external debt in low-income countries affect the natural capital that

sustains our livelihoods? A new paper focuses on three river basins that are vital to the

livelihoods and biodiversity of the countries that surround them, suggesting ways that

we can both measure and conserve that natural capital in the face of the economic

forces that threaten it. Pushpam Kumar of UN Environment Programme talks to Tim

Phillips about the alarming rise in the ratio of debt to natural capital for the 21 countries whose wealth relies on the river basins that they border, and how debt-for-nature swaps may be our best hope of avoiding both an economic and ecological disaster.

Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/debt-leading-unsustainable-exploitation-natural-resources