Leonardo DiCaprio gave $1 million to a Seychelles debt swap that protected 410,000 sq km of ocean

The debt conversion was supported by several private funders, including the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation was among the private funders that backed a deal helping Seychelles use debt financing for ocean conservation. The deal helped the island nation increase the area of its ocean under protection from just 0.04% of its Exclusive Economic Zone to 30% by 2020.The arrangement worked by converting foreign debt into money for long-term conservation in Seychelles, according to The Nature Conservancy. As part of the deal, $21.6 million in foreign debt was paid in exchange for funding for conservation work inside the country. Seychelles also agreed to create a marine spatial plan to decide how its ocean would be protected and used.The result was a much larger protected area. By 2020, Seychelles had finalised Marine Protection Areas covering 410,000 square kilometres of ocean. The Nature Conservancy said this was an area larger than Germany.Seychelles depends heavily on marine resources, with fishing and tourism providing jobs for more than one-third of its workforce. So the country divided the protected waters into different zones, allowing some activities to c...