Buenos Aires, 18 January 1994-- Debt-for-nature swaps have only a limited use and the system is likely to make only a small contribution to conservation in the future, a leading scientific environmentalist said here tonight.

Dr Martin Holdgate, outgoing Director General of IUCN-The World Conservation Union, was answering questions on the second day of the organisation's 10-day General Assembly, held every three years.

Argentina's Environment Secretary Maria Julia Alsogaray told journalists bluntly in English: "It has not been very successful in Latin America".

In debt-for-nature swaps, governments commit themselves to invest in environmental projects the amount of foreign debt which conservation organisations repay for them.

Dr Holdgate said that such swaps had worked in "only a limited number of countries and situations." He added: "It is not a universal solution. It can make a contribution, but I think it will be a small one."

Swaps were popular in Latin America in the 1970s when conservation organisations could buy up foreign debts at discounts of up to 70 percent, providing $100 of conservation for $30 of the environmental organisations' cash. Since then, South American governments have radically readjusted their economies, so that few have foreign debts that are heavily discounted on commercial markets.

The 19th IUCN General Assembly brings together representatives of over 800 governments, state agencies and non-governmental organisations from some 125 countries. The Assembly is the first global meeting of Governments and environmentalists since Rio.

"It is not quite honest for the rich countries to tell the poor countries not to repeat our mistakes," declared Holdgate, a former scientific advisor to the UK Prime Minister. Many would be glad to develop in the way that led to the mistakes. The responsibility of rich countries, he said, is first to make available to poor countries "appropriate technology, without penalty -- the best environmentally friendly technology."

"The second thing, which is linked, is for the developed countries to open their markets much more to the products of the developing countries," he added.

Established in 1948, IUCN links more than 6000 scientists and professionals in a global network as well as bringing together states, government agencies and private voluntary groups.

Holdgate said Latin America is the continent where membership of IUCN is growing fastest, with 71 new members in the past three years, reaching a total of 145. In answer to questions, he said IUCN had paid a little under US$1 million from its direct budget to finance the Assembly in Buenos Aires, but this did not include any staff costs or the Argentine counterpart contribution. "What we try to achieve is a real improvement in the quality of the use of natural resources. If it is under a hundredfold more valuable than the money we have invested in this meeting, I shall be very disappointed," the IUCN Director General said.

On Holdgate's retirement in two months, Ambassador David McDowell of New Zealand becomes Director General of the world's largest professional conservation body.

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