Lying 1,000 miles off the coast of East Africa, the Seychelles is an ecological paradise. The extensive archipelago of 115 lush and rocky islands is home to some of the world’s last pristine coral reefs teeming with endangered species. However, the island nation has had its fair share of problems.

The Seychelles has fewer than 100,000 inhabitants who rely heavily on marine tourism and fishing revenue and one of the smallest GDPs in the world

In 2008, after years of borrowing, the Seychelles defaulted on payments for its $406m (£311.6m) national debt and had to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund.

In a bid to build climate resilience and boost its blue economy, the Seychelles signed a unique deal in 2015: almost $22m (£16.8m) of its national debt was written off, in exchange for the country doing more to protect its oceans.

Find out how the Seychelles progressed from protecting one to thirty per cent of its national waters