Hollywood celebrities are often associated with enjoying luxury holidays at exclusive island resorts – we’ve all seen the paparazzi shots.
Occasionally – as with Francis Ford Coppola – we hear of them building eco lodges, too.
It’s rare, though, to find a celebrity protecting a region, potentially ensuring that more hotels and resorts are not built.
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But Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio has done just that.
He, along with a group that includes The Nature Conservancy and an US charity, has paid down some of the Seychelles’ government’s national debt in return for the creation of a vast marine reserve.
The first protected area covers 210,000 sq km of ocean – roughly the size of Great Britain. By 2020, the total protected area will increase to 410,000 sq km (158,000 sq miles), or 30% of the Seychelles’ seas.
In a bid to combat over-fishing, pollution and climate change, the reserves will restrict fishing and appears likely, by the time the second phase is rolled out in 2020, to limit tourism activity and impose strict sustainability standards.
This will have implications for the economy of the Seychelles, which, more than almost any other nation in the world, depends on tourism for its economic survival.
It’s my long-held belief that responsible tourism, rather than restricting tourism, can meet both the needs of the environment and local communities. But it is also true that the rapid growth of unregulated and poorly managed tourism is an issue.
It dominated the headlines last summer, with protests at ‘over-tourism’ staged by local communities around the world.
It’s clear that some destinations, including perhaps the Seychelles, can only sustain so much tourism. Limits are, sometimes, necessary.
So is this debt conversion deal, the first ever designed to protect ocean areas, just the start? Will other celebrities, wealthy individuals or funds get destinations to stop destroying natural and cultural heritage – even get them to restrict or ban tourism – by paying down national debt?
Some may also question whether this is a good use of capital – you could argue there’s a slight whiff of colonialism about it.
I personally have no problem with wealthy groups and individuals using their funds in this way, as long as consultancy with local people is adequate. My concern would always be, what voice do local communities have in this?
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In the Seychelles, more than 100 consultations have already taken lace, involving local communities, tourism operators, scientists and conservationists, with more to come.
The second phase of this overall marine plan will look at the most well-used waters within the Seychelles, close to where local people live, and is set to involve complex consultations.
Consultations produce results, but they rarely achieve consensus.
Local people’s need to fish or earn from tourism can be in direct conflict with conservation, but can the voice of a local fisherman compete with a Hollywood celebrity’s?
Only time will tell.
But I feel certain that the success or failure of this bold new measure centres on just one thing – whether or not it’s fully supported by the local community.
Justin Francis is the co-founder and CEO of Responsible Travel.
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