Madagascar - A special ceremony was held at the U.S.

Madagascar - A special ceremony was held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on August 3, 1989, to announce a $1million grant to the World Wildlife Fund to support a major debt-for-nature swap in Madagascar. The grant provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was the first time the U.S. Government has sponsered such an exchange in Africa.
Kathryn Fuller, President, World Wildlife, is shown addressing the ceremony participants. World Wildlife first conceived the idea of debt-for-nature swap in 1984.
The grant will assist the World Wildlife Fund to acquire up to $2.1 million worth of commercial Madagascar debt which will be swapped for local currency and used to support a number of conservation activities on the island nation. Some of the activities include training 400 park rangers for environmentally protected areas, tree nursery and planting programs, and environmental education.
The Madagascar initiative is the third and largest debt-for-nature swap which USAID has supported. The swaps come under a Debt for Development Initiative the USAID announced in May1988 at a major Washington conference of private voluntary organizations, key bankers and officials of USAID, Treasury and other U.S. government agencies.
From left to right: Representative John Porter; Claude Cochin de Billy, Bankers Trust Managing Director; Senator Robert Kasten; Kathryn Fuller; His Excellency Jose Michel Adrianoelison, Minister of Agriculture, Madagascar; His Excellency Leon Rajaobelina, Ambassador from Madagascar to the United States; Mark Edelman, Acting Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development; and William Reilly Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.