LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - An arm of the Inter-American Development Bank tested the waters on Thursday for what is expected to be a multi-billion-dollar wave of new "Amazonia" bonds in the coming years.
IDB Invest sold a 50 million Brazilian real ($9 million) bond to the Record Emerging Market Sustainable Finance Fund described as first private sector bond to finance green and social initiatives in the Amazon region.
It is also likely to be viewed a blueprint for the Amazonia Bonds the IDB is now developing with the World Bank to try and attract money to projects and business help conservation and provide alternatives to logging and agriculture.
James Scriven, the chief executive of IDB Invest said the sale of the bond on Thursday showed "an emerging investor appetite to support sustainable development in the Amazon" and that there was a "pipeline" of bankable projects there.
"We will continue testing investor demand and pave the way for full-fledged Amazonia Bonds," he added.
The specially supported Amazonia framework is expected to be embraced by countries including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador as they try to fund protection of the world's biggest rainforest.
Covering more than 6 million square kilometres (2.3 million square miles), the Amazon absorbs vast amounts of climate-warming greenhouse gases and is home to more than 10% of all known animals and plants on Earth.
The next key step for the Amazonia bonds framework is the finalisation of jointly developed guidelines that are expected to ready in time for the UN'S Biodiversity COP in Colombia in October.
These guidelines will govern use of proceeds, performance indicators, and sustainability performance targets, and will be vetted by national governments, public development banks, and local communities. (Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
