Príncipe’s regional government is working with the United Nations to make the island “a global reference of biodiversity conservation” by 2030, although the UN admits that the country’s institutional capacity to sustainably manage and safeguard its natural resources remains limited.
Birds are the soundtrack of Príncipe. Two-thirds of the island, 150 miles off Gabon and the west coast of mainland Africa, is a designated national park, and its cloaking rain forest is a symphony of whistles and pings. From high up in the branches comes the raucous squall of a pair of African grey parrots. I’m still watching them clatter through the canopy when my guide Wilbuir Tavares points out a Dohrn’s thrush-babbler, a vocal little endemic whose high-pitched twittering is bouncing off the oca trees around us.
So HBD is countering with a “Natural Dividend,” an initiative to turn abstract benefits like conservation into tangible benefits for the people. It will compensate Príncipe’s residents for rewilding their land, for example, or for choosing to preserve a richer diversity of trees at the expense of agricultural profit.
“It’s a fusion of universal basic income and a payment for the people’s role as custodians of the Biosphere Reserve,” Malcom Couch, HBD’s CEO, tells me. He is clearly driven by the chance to make a difference, talking earnestly about the company’s social responsibility and environmental stewardship. “The last thing we want to do is to patronize the people of Príncipe” he explains, “but what we’re actually saying is, ‘This is your patrimony. How can we help you?’