A $500 million deal to restore Gabon’s coast reignites climate finance debate

Gabon will use a controversial financial move to ease its debt burden and restore its oceans at the same time, a leading conservation group said Tuesday. It’s the second-largest deal of its kind to date, and the first on mainland Africa, according to a press release by The Nature Conservancy, the global environmental nonprofit that helped broker the deal. Gabon, an oil-rich Central African nation known for its biodiversity, hosts the world’s largest population of leatherback turtles and myriad other endangered species.