Who gains from saving nature?
Money moves in the name of nature: carbon credits, debt swaps, bans, parks, land. Each case below follows that money — what was promised, what reached the ground, who else was paid, and what nature recorded.
For each dollar that financed nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature.
Kariba REDD+ project (Zimbabwe)
A forest-protection carbon project in Zimbabwe sold about 23 million credits for about €100 million between 2011 and 2022. In September 2025 Verra found that 15.2 million of the 26.8 million credits issued were excess.
Galápagos debt-for-nature swap
Described as the world's largest debt conversion for marine conservation. By the end of 2025, about $3.8 million in grants had been assigned.
Yangtze ten-year fishing ban
About 231,000 fishers put down their nets. Studies attribute about 70% of the river's fish loss to habitat destruction, mostly dams, sand mining and land reclamation.
Belize blue bond
A debt buyback tied to protecting 30% of Belize's ocean. Protection stands at 20.3%; about $6 million in grants were approved in three and a half years.
Ngorongoro and Loliondo relocations
The Tanzanian government has set aside land in Loliondo to protect the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem and has been relocating residents of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Msomera since June 2022, with a target above 82,000 people. It calls the relocation voluntary; Human Rights Watch reported that services were cut to push people out. A UAE-based company has held exclusive hunting rights over 400,000 hectares since 1992.
Scotland's natural-capital land rush
Companies bought estates to plant forests and offset emissions. Estate prices rose about 87% in a year; at one flagship site more than half the young pines died.
CAMPFIRE and elephant trophy hunting
Hunters paid $17 million in nine districts over six years. About $1.24 million went to law enforcement; households received about $13 a year, mostly as projects.
Northern Kenya Grasslands Carbon Project and the Isiolo court ruling
A Verra-registered soil-carbon project in northern Kenya covers 1.9 million hectares. In January 2025 a Kenyan court found that two of its conservancies had been set up without adequate public participation.
Cordillera Azul National Park carbon project
Shell and TotalEnergies paid more than $80 million for credits from a Peruvian park. A satellite analysis found forest loss more than doubled during the project period.
Carbon and conservation finance
- Carbon credit
- A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.
- Debt-for-nature swap
- A deal in which a government's debt is bought back or refinanced at a discount, and part of the savings is committed to conservation.