The Clinton administration today will announce a proposal to nearly double federal spending for protection of the world’s tropical rainforests to $150 million. Much of the money would be used to help more than 60 nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America strengthen their own efforts to fight excessive logging and illegal burning of forests. About $37 million would go toward “debt-for-nature” swaps, in which the U.S. would forgive debts in exchange for promises to protect forest land. Tropical forests are believed to support more than half of the planet’s species, but they are being destroyed at a rate of more than 50 acres a minute.
