Belize's green debt restructing (Sept. 21, 2021)

Belize could close a unique environmentally-friendly debt restructuring deal, to buy back a $526.5 million bond at a discount with money provided by the Nature Conservancy’s blue bond financing program, which will use private capital to help refinance nations’ public debt.

As part of the deal, the government would fund a $23.4 million marine conservation trust that would help protect the world's second-largest barrier reef. It would also enact “durable marine conservation efforts and sustainable marine-based economic activity.”

A significant portion of bond holders have expressed interest in the groundbreaking proposal. Belize's debt-to-GDP ratio is above 120%, and the country has defaulted five times in the last 15 years. Under the proposed deal, eligible holders who tender their bonds will receive 55 cents for every $1 in outstanding principal.

But there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the proposal, warns Eurodad's Daniel Munevar on Twitter. "The proposed restructuring is unlikely to restore debt sustainability. As a result, current bond holders might end up getting a better deal than under a comprehensive debt restructuring under an IMF program ... the green component of the deal seems more like a "greenwashing" smoke screen to distract from the fact that this agreement fails to ensure Belize's debt sustainability while providing an easy exit to bondholders"

The World Wildlife Fund, which has worked with the country, estimates that more than 40% of the population lives and works along its Caribbean coast and depends on its ecosystems for their livelihoods.

(Reuters, Bloomberg)

More Debt, Economics and Finance

• Economist Marla Dukharan signaled the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago as the next two Caribbean countries expected to default on their sovereign debt,  following defaults by Barbados and Suriname, with widespread repercussions for their economies, populations, creditors and, eventually, the corrective policy prescriptions that are likely to come to bailout vehicles such as the IMF, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.
  
  
• The Trade and Development Report 2021 argues that international coordination is key to reforming and rebalancing the global economy. The solutions proposed by UNCTAD include a concerted effort for debt relief (including cancellation), a reassessment of the role of fiscal policy in the global economy, greater policy coordination across systemically important economies, and renewed international support for vaccine distribution and deployment within developing countries.
  
  
•  The Bahamas’ national debt has surpassed the $10 billion mark due to the borrowing blow-out inflicted by the combination of COVID-19 and Hurricane Dorian. (The Tribune)

Speech

• Scores of new Cuban-made podcasts -- including the popular El Enjambre -- are competing for residents’ attention and limited internet bandwidth, upending the island’s hyperpartisan media landscape, reports the New York Times. While Cuban authorities block access to many news sites, and new regulations make it a crime to criticize the government on social media, they have not yet taken action to censor or block access to the more than 220 podcasts that are produced in Cuba or cater largely to Cuban audiences
  

Climate Justice and Energy

• The countries most vulnerable to climate change are calling for an "emergency pact" to tackle rising temperatures ahead of COP26. The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) consists of countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific. (BBC)
  
  
• Climate change is having multiple adverse health effects in the Caribbean, said the University of West Indies in the lead up to a conference on the issue in October. It said costly non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer and respiratory diseases are partly caused by climate change.
  
  
• Key climate change threats in the Bahamas include risks to food security and tourism income, increases in displacement, and impacts on human health, according to a report by the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at the University of the Bahamas.
  
  
• In small island developing states, the magnitude of IDPs is expected to rise due to the increasing impacts of climate change, particularly from the prevalence of more intense hurricanes, tropical storms and flooding, according to a report by the same Centre, which found that official displacement numbers in the Bahamas after 2019's Hurricane Dorian are likely a significant underestimation.
  
  
• The Cayman Islands' environmental authority has said the current blanket approach to planning applications to build on the oceanfront needs to be reconsidered because it is not climate resilient. The current high water mark setback rules are based purely on beach or ironshore and take no account of the variety of coastlines around the islands, the impact of the ocean in different places or rising sea-levels. (Cayman News Service)
  
  
• A year into office, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali’s administration has still done little to set itself apart from its predecessor on the disclosure of information, all the while maintaining a tight political grip on the oil sector. Despite his claim that his government has been transparent, a deficit still persists and widens, reports Kaieteur News.
  
  
• Barbados is pursuing what a key official called the “Norwegian model” by exporting oil and gas while cleaning up its own cars and electricity production, reports Climate Home News.
  

Covid-19

• The Caribbean showed the sharpest increase in food insecurity during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2019 to 2020 the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in recent report. (Carib Mag Plus)
  
  
• Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States have “ample provision” in their constitutions to support mandatory vaccination laws, according to a confidential legal brief submitted to the countries' leadership. In addition, the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts-Nevis and Montserrat, have been informed that there are corresponding jurisprudence and medical data to support the position of mandatory vaccination. (Carib Mag Plus, see Aug. 10's Just Caribbean Updates post)
  
  
• Cuba said it would seek World Health Organization approval for two home-grown coronavirus vaccines it hopes to commercialize widely, reports AFP. Cuban scientists say the Abdala and Soberana 02 jabs have been shown to be more than 90 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 cases.
  
  
• Trinidad and Tobago’s health minister has dismissed claims by the rapper Nicki Minaj that a cousin’s friend had become impotent after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, reports the Guardian.

Migration

• The U.S. is deporting Haitians from a makeshift border camp in Texas -- authorities expected to expel about 14,000 Haitians over the coming three weeks. It's the beginning of what could be one the US's swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades, reports the Associated Press. Mexico said yesterday it would also begin deporting Haitians. A government official said the flights would be from towns near the US border and the border with Guatemala, where the largest group remains.
  
  
• Haitian officials have pleaded with counterparts to stop deportation flights, because the country is in crisis and cannot handle thousands of homeless deportees, reports the New York Times. Three flights were scheduled for yesterday, and six flights a day for the next three weeks, split between Port-au-Prince and the coastal city of Cap Haitien.

Public Security and Corruption

• Despite improving homicide statistics, Belize continues to regularly declare states of emergency due to crime rates. These repeated SOEs are seen as a “pause button” by authorities in Belize, but their effectiveness is in doubt, reports Insight Crime.
  
  
• The dismantling of a drug trafficking and money laundering network implicating government officials in the Dominican Republic has presented a serious challenge to President Luis Abinader’s anti-corruption drive, reports InSight Crime.

Privacy

• A controversial bill that would provide Jamaicans with a national identity card while collecting their personal information and biometric data could be replicated across the Caribbean. Some activists fear the proposal poses unique dangers for the country's trans population. (Coda Story)

Democratic Governance

• A coalition of progressive groups called for the U.S. Congress to abolish Puerto Rico's Fiscal Control Board, which they say has deepened economic strain for the U.S. territory's residents. (The Hill, El Nuevo Día)
  
  
• Critics of PROMESA, the law that created the oversight board, have called out its austerity-focused approach, its conflicts of interest, and its democratic legitimacy. They argue it hasn’t succeeded at doing what it claims to do — put Puerto Rico on the track to solvency. In fact, most Puerto Ricans view the board unfavorably, write Edoardo Ortiz and Gustavo Sánchez at Data for Progress.
  
  
• Earlier this year, "The Board," as it's called, sued Puerto Rican government officials, an attempt to invalidate a new local law — the Dignified Retirement Act — designed to protect pension-holders and essential services in the debt restructuring deal being considered in court. The Board, in taking this action, is violating the spirit of the power-sharing arrangement we established through federal law, wrote U.S. lawmakers Nydia Velázquez and Jesús “Chuy” García in The Hill.
  
  
• Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry might fall victim to an intense political battle for the country's leadership, after he has been linked to President Jovenel Moïse's July assassination by a prosecutor he fired. (See last Friday's Latin America Daily Briefing.)
  

Indigenous Rights

• Guyana SPEAKS continues its celebration of the Indigenous People of Guyana with a documentary filmed in the Village of Wakapoa, Pomeroon, Guyana. First Year Students from the University Of Guyana meet both Lokono and Warrau residents who discuss their visions for their people’s development. 

LGBTQ Rights

• Cuban officials published a draft of a new family code that would open the door to marriage equality if approved. The draft still needs to go to a grassroots debate, however, and will then be amended to take into account citizens’ opinions before going to a referendum. In 2018, the government withdrew a constitutional amendment that would have permitted same-sex unions in response to evangelical churches' campaigns. (Reuters)

Culture

• The roots of the Booker prize are problematic because of their links to colonialism and the British empire, according to organisers. (The Times of London)
  
  
• The Global Extraction Film Festival (GEFF) 2021—which this year consisted of more than 150 documentaries, shorts, and “urgent shorts” from over 40 countries—focuses on the various destructive impacts of extractive industries, primarily fossil fuels and mining. It was founded in 2020 by Jamaican filmmaker Esther Figueroa and Emiel Martens. (Global Voices)
  
  
• "The Buena Vista Social Club," 25 years after it became a surprise blockbuster -- Repeating Islands
  
  
• "Waiting for the Waters to Rise" by Maryse Condé, follows a Malian obstetrician living in Guadeloupe whose life is upended when he learns an undocumented Haitian immigrant has died during labor, leaving behind an infant girl. He ultimately travels to Haiti where he bears witness to the ravaging cycles of violence and prejudice that have long fractured the Caribbean nation -- Repeating Islands

Events

• Friends of the Earth Grenada presents a national conversation on CLIMATE CHANGE, FOOD SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE IN TIMES OF COVID-19, September 21 1900-2100.  

  
  

• The Timehri Film Festival, Sep 23 - 26. In honour of Indigenous Heritage Month in Guyana, videos will be screened by and in Indigenous-Guyanese communities, and in Indigenous communities in Colombia. 
  
  

• Climate Resilience in the Caribbean - Lessons from Puerto Rico and Cuba (Environmental Defense Fund),  23 September
  
  

• WHO/Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children - Corporal punishment of children and public health: what does the research tell us? - 5 October
  
  

• As part of the fifth UNESCO National Indigenous Languages Faire 2021, Voices Guyana will be presenting on “Bilingual and Inter-Cultural Education for migrant indigenous peoples and receiver communities in Guyana” on 14 September 
  
  

• Inaugural TCI Fellowship Conference: Pollution Externalities & Community Realities, October 6. Registration: Registration is now live on Eventbrite. . The Conference will feature fantastic speakers, a Fellow breakout session, live musical performances, and more. 

 Opportunities

• Applications Open for UN Women Caribbean Regional Spotlight Initiative Small Grants
  
  
• Climate Tracker is funding Global South journalists to report on COP26! You can direct questions to dizzanne@climatetracker.org or apply direct. 1) COP26 Climate Justice Fellowship (online, for journalists from across the Global South)  https://bit.ly/cop26-online-web; 2) COP 26 Climate Journalism Fellowship (in-person, for journalists from the Global South residing in Europe or the UK)   https://bit.ly/cop26-inperson-web
  
  
• University of the West Indies Institute of International Relations - Online training module: Caribbean Small States and Disaster Diplomacy to be held from 21st - 24th February, 2022.  For information on this certificate training opportunity, including on the course tuition fee and Facilitator, please click here.

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