Ecuador wants to monetize its biodiversity - while still drilling for oil

* Ecuador seeks to balance biodiversity protection with oil and mining via green finance. * Plans include debt-for-nature swaps, green bonds, and biodiversity credits. * New oil tenders and illegal mining pose ongoing environmental challenges. Ecuador aims to protect its biodiverse ecosystems while extracting oil and minerals, sparking protests. It uses debt-for-nature swaps and plans green bonds to fund conservation. New oil exploration tenders face Indigenous opposition. Illegal mining remains a major concern. At its first Bio Summit, Ecuador introduced biodiversity credits to monetize nature beyond carbon metrics. Regenerative cacao projects also aim to restore degraded land and fund conservation.