26 April 1997
Source: http://www.usia.gov/

United States Information Agency

22 April 1997

### TEXT: STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL DIPLOMACY

    (First annual report issued on Earth Day April 22) (8070)

    Following is the text of the State Department's first annual report on
    the environment and foreign policy represents a new way of looking at
    the world.

    (begin text)

    Environmental Diplomacy:  The Environment and U.S. Foreign Policy

    United States Department of State

    (The U.S. State Department's first annual report on the environment
    and foreign policy represents a new way of looking at the world.)

    We have moved beyond Cold War definitions of the United States'
    strategic interests. Our foreign policy must now address a broad range
    of threats -- including damage to the world's environment -- that
    transcend countries and continents and require international
    cooperation to solve.

    Environmental problems such as global climate change, ozone depletion,
    ocean and air pollution, and resource degradation -- compounded by an
    expanding world population -- respect no border and threaten the
    health, prosperity, and jobs of all Americans. All the missiles and
    artillery in our arsenal will not be able to protect our people from
    rising sea levels, poisoned air, or foods laced with pesticides. Our
    efforts to promote democracy, free trade, and stability in the world
    will fall short unless people have a livable environment.

    We have an enormous stake in the management of the world's resources.
    Demand for timber in Japan mean trees fall in the United States.
    Greenhouse gas emissions anywhere in the world threaten coastal
    communities in Florida. A nuclear accident in Ukraine kills for
    generations. Over-fishing the world's oceans depletes resources for
    future generations. Our children's future is inextricably linked to
    our ability to manage the earth's air, water, and wildlife today.

    This first State Department report details the Clinton
    Administration's priorities for working globally, regionally, and
    bilaterally to combat serious and growing international environmental
    threats. It documents an important turning point in U.S. foreign
    policy -- a change the President and I strongly support.

    Sincerely,

    Al Gore

    Letter from Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright

    Just over one year ago, then-Secretary of State Christopher announced
    that the State Department would spearhead a government-wide effort to
    meet the world's environmental challenges.

    He said, "The United States is providing the leadership to promote
    global peace and prosperity. We must also lead in safeguarding the
    global environment upon which that prosperity and peace ultimately
    depend."

    This report is an outgrowth of that initiative. It will be released
    every year on Earth Day. Its purpose is to update global environmental
    challenges and policy developments and to set our priorities for the
    coming year.

    Not so long ago, many believed that the pursuit of clean air, clean
    water, and healthy forests was a worthy goal, but not part of our
    national security. Today environmental issues are part of the
    mainstream of American foreign policy.

    We are building on three basic premises.

    First, we know that damage to the global environment, whether it is
    overfishing of the oceans, the build-up of greenhouse gases in the
    atmosphere, the release of chemical pollutants, or the destruction of
    tropical forests, threatens the health of the American people and the
    future of our economy. We know that rapid population growth
    exacerbates these problems and has consequences that transcend
    national borders. And we know that the global environment can be
    protected most effectively if nations act together. For these reasons,
    this effort must be a central concern of American foreign policy.

    Second, environmental problems are often at the heart of the political
    and economic challenges we face around the world, In Russia and
    central Europe, environmental disasters left over from the Soviet era
    shorten lives and impede reform. In central Africa, rapid population
    growth combined with the competition for scarce resources fuels
    conflict and misery. We would not be doing our jobs as peacemakers and
    as democracy-builders, if we were not also good stewards of the global
    environment.

    Third, we believe, as did President Kennedy, that "problems created by
    man can be solved by man." The environmental problems we face are not
    the result of natural forces or the hidden hand of chaos; they are
    caused by human beings. These problems can be solved if America works
    in partnership with governments, NGOs and businesses that share our
    commitment to a cleaner and healthier world.

    To meet this challenge, the State Department is changing the way we do
    business. Four years ago, we appointed an Under Secretary for Global
    Affairs. Our embassies and bureaus are developing regional
    environmental policies that advance our larger national interests. To
    help coordinate these policies, we are opening regional environmental
    hubs at our embassies in Costa Rica, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, Nepal,
    Jordan, and Thailand. We have made environmental cooperation an
    important part of our relationships with countries like Japan, India,
    Brazil and China.

    Globally, we are pursuing five environmental priorities: the problems
    of climate change, toxic chemicals, species extinction, deforestation,
    and marine degradation. We have made many important advances,
    including agreements to phase out the remaining substances that damage
    the stratospheric ozone layer and to ban ocean dumping of low-level
    radioactive waste.

    We have many opportunities this year to make further progress. At the
    conference on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which
    will be held in Kyoto, Japan this December, we will be pressing for a
    substantive agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The United
    Nations will hold a special session this year to commemorate the fifth
    anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit. There will also be an important
    meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
    Species.

    Environmental diplomacy is a work in progress.

    The depletion of our fisheries, the increase in the level of
    greenhouse gases, and the destruction of habitats and species did not
    occur overnight and cannot be reversed overnight. We must work with
    the Congress and the American people to obtain the resources we need
    to support our diplomacy in this area, as in all others.

    We have made a good beginning. Our nation and our friends and partners
    around the world have the tools, the commitment, and the know-how to
    get the job done. As Secretary of State, I am committed to this effort
    and optimistic that we will succeed.

    Madeleine K. Albright

    CHALLENGES FOR THE PLANET

    Between 1946 and 1996, dramatic political change, economic progress
    and technological breakthroughs combined to reshape the world.

    Today, more people are living under democracy than at any time in
    history, free-market economies are expanding on every continent, and
    innovations like the Internet have made our communications immediate
    and international. But just as common bonds link the world closer
    together, so too do common threats increasingly endanger continued
    prosperity here at home and around the world.

    Climate change, deforestation, overfishing and other environmental
    concerns transcend political divisions and geographic boundaries and
    present a major challenge for the next century. They are the
    consequences of the enormous pressures placed on the world's resources
    by an ever-increasing population, spreading industrialization, land
    conversion, urbanization, and rising consumption.

    At the end of World War II, the earth's population stood at two
    billion; now it is nearing six billion. It took hundreds of thousands
    of years to reach the two billion mark; only 50 years to triple it.
    This gargantuan rise in population has crowded the cities, overtaken
    green spaces and created unprecedented demand for energy, food, and
    shelter.

    Forests four times larger than Switzerland are lost every year.

    Seventy percent of the world's marine fish stocks are fully to
    over-exploited. The people of the world annually release 23 billion
    tons of carbon dioxide into the air, increasing the earth's
    temperature and threatening the health and habitat of animals, plants,
    and people. Estimates are that we lose 70 species a day, forever. And
    the rate of destruction and loss is accelerating.

    No one country is responsible for these problems. Many nations have
    contributed to their causes, and they can be addressed effectively
    only if the nations of the world work together, adopting and
    implementing policies that are result-oriented.

    It will take more than governments to combat environmental threats.
    Global institutions, including a World Bank which factors
    environmental implications into its lending decisions, private
    businesses and industries, and nongovernmental organizations must all
    be involved in the search for and implementation of solutions.
    Additionally, we must reform key United Nations structures to help
    organize and coordinate international actions. Only by working in
    tandem can we balance world economic growth and development with the
    protection of our planet and the life it sustains.

    By working within existing and evolving international structures,
    negotiating important treaties and agreements, and building on
    established relations to break new ground, the State Department is
    addressing environmental issues which directly affect the health,
    safety and economic prosperity of the American people. Whether
    protecting fish stocks or the sources of many of our medicines,
    reducing the amount of pesticides and toxins in our air and water, or
    mitigating the consequences of climate change, the State Department is
    negotiating agreements that will defend America's interests by
    safeguarding the global environment.

    The State Department, working with other agencies, is focusing its
    energies and efforts on five pressing global environmental issues that
    can only be tackled collectively, by all the nations of the world:
    climate change, toxic chemicals and pesticides, biological diversity,
    forest loss, and ocean degradation.

    CLIMATE CHANGE

    "It has been my opinion, that he who receives an Estate from his
    ancestors is under some kind of obligation to transmit the same to
    their posterity."

    -- Benjamin Franklin

    Global warming is a serious and growing threat, and most governments,
    including the United States, agree more must be done to protect life
    and economies from its effects.

    There is now broad consensus within the international scientific
    community that human activity is altering the Earth's climate system.
    The burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels is increasing
    substantially the concentration of heat-trapping gases such as carbon
    dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in our air. The earth's
    temperature and sea levels are rising as a result.

    Right now, 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide are being released into
    the world's atmosphere each year. At this rate of fossil fuel
    consumption, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an
    international body made up 2,000 of the world's best climate
    scientists, predicts the planet's temperature will rise by 1.8 - 6.3
    degrees Fahrenheit, and the seas will rise between 6 inches and 3 feet
    by 2100.

    This amount of climate change will affect us all. The range of impacts
    is likely to include: threats to human health, including increases in
    heat-related deaths and illnesses, and in the incidence of infectious
    diseases; mounting damage to coastal homes, businesses, and habitat
    from rising sea levels; accelerated loss of animal and plant species;
    and a shift in agriculture and food production as temperature and
    precipitation patterns change. Many scientists also predict that
    climate change will lead to an increase in the frequency and intensity
    of floods, storms, and droughts.

    As the world's largest economy and emitter of greenhouse gases, the
    United States has a special responsibility to take meaningful action
    to attack the causes of climate change and mitigate its effects.
    Acting alone, however, will not solve the problem. Over three-quarters
    of global emissions come from outside the United States, and as
    developing countries such as China and India continue to grow
    economically, their emissions will become an increasingly large
    portion of the problem.

    It will take time to change the global trend of emissions growth. The
    United States is committed to strong action, recognizing that we must
    adopt solutions that protect the environment but that are also
    consistent with our continued economic growth and competitiveness.

    The State Department is engaged in a massive diplomatic effort with
    more than 160 nations to reach an agreement on future emissions
    reductions at the Third Conference of the Parties to the U.N.
    Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan this December.
    The United States is pushing for an agreement that includes legally
    binding emissions targets for developed nations, maximum national
    flexibility in reaching those targets, and provisions that would
    substantively involve developing countries in any overall solutions to
    the problem.

    The State Department, with other U.S. government agencies, is working
    with key countries around the world to develop innovative ways of
    combating climate change by improving energy efficiency, protecting
    forests and other carbon "sinks"; (which absorb carbon from the
    atmosphere), and promoting the use of renewable technologies. For
    example, through our Common Agenda with Japan, both governments are
    cooperating on climate change research based on a multi-year,
    multi-billion dollar contribution from Japan.

    TOXIC CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES

    "If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals -- eating
    and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones -- we
    had better know something about their nature and their power."

    -- Rachel Carson

    The security of our water and air and the safety of our food are
    directly affected by the world's ability to balance the agricultural,
    medicinal and industrial benefits of pesticide and chemical use with
    their risks.

    Thirty-five years ago, Rachel Carson in her seminal book, Silent
    Spring, first raised the alarm in America about the dangers of
    unchecked use of persistent organochlorine pesticides like DDT and
    chlordane. The United States subsequently took substantial steps to
    ensure that these and other pesticides do not poison our people or
    wildlife. Yet, as we approach the twenty-first century, the effects of
    certain organochlorine chemicals can still be felt worldwide.

    This group of compounds, also known as persistent organic pollutants
    (POPs) are capable of traveling thousands of miles from their source,
    often moving in a northerly direction. POPs can last for decades in
    the environment, where they accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals
    and people. These substances include such notorious compounds as PCBs
    and DDT, which -- though no longer produced in the United States --
    are still used abroad and continue to turn up in seal tissue in the
    Alaskan Arctic, in Great Lakes fish, and in the bloodstream of
    seabirds off the California coast. Humans in such remote locations as
    Canada's far northern Baffin Islands carry traces of these chemicals
    in their bodies.

    While the United States has been able to address many of the risks
    from these and other substances at the national level, some of these
    risks can be mitigated only through global action. Many developing
    countries do not have the resources or expertise to provide effective
    regulatory oversight of hazardous chemical use. The United States has
    an interest in helping to ensure that countries that produce or import
    these chemicals use them safely.

    Addressing these problems effectively requires cooperation with other
    countries. The State Department and other U.S. agencies are working
    globally, regionally, and bilaterally to reduce and manage the use of
    these toxic substances.

    The United States and over a hundred other countries recently agreed
    to begin negotiating a global agreement to ban the production or
    minimize the release of 12 of the most hazardous persistent organic
    pollutants on the planet.

    The United States is also participating in the negotiation of a global
    agreement that would require governments to provide each other with
    better information about especially hazardous chemicals and pesticides
    prior to the export of these substances.

    Through NAFTA's Commission on Environmental Cooperation, the United
    States, Canada and Mexico are working together to advance the
    phase-out of specific persistent organic pollutants, including PCBs
    and chlordane, in North America.

    The United States and Canada are cooperating to rid the Great Lakes of
    persistent organic pollutants.

    BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

    "Most scientists who work in species diversity agree we're at the
    beginning of a species extinction spasm of a magnitude that hasn't
    been seen since the end of the dinosaurs."

    -- E.O. Wilson

    Scientists warn that a quarter of all species could be gone in fifty
    years. At present extinction rates, they estimate seventy different
    kinds of animal and plant life disappear every day, forever.

    Rising consumption of animal and plant products, the rapid conversion
    of land to human uses, increased pollution and the spread of exotic
    species to non-native habitats are putting enormous stress on the
    world's flora and fauna.

    The acceleration of this loss of life is occurring just as we are
    beginning to understand the value of maintaining biological diversity.
    Compounds and by-products derived from animals and plants from around
    the world contribute to the development of new medicines,
    pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, and food ingredients.
    Scientists recently developed a treatment for childhood leukemia from
    a flower, the rosy periwinkle, found only in Madagascar, and a
    treatment for breast cancer from the yew tree of the Pacific
    Northwest.

    There is no way to estimate the potential benefits that may come from
    millions of species yet to be studied, or yet to be discovered. And
    there is no way to estimate the health, economic and spiritual costs
    to our children who could inherit a world robbed of a drug to cure
    AIDS, stripped of a strain of disease-free wheat, or bereft of the
    wonder of such diverse creatures as tigers and sea turtles.

    The State Department, along with other agencies, is working to protect
    biological diversity, particularly through negotiations, agreements,
    and initiatives to conserve forests, wetlands, and coral reefs --
    ecosystems all rich in biological diversity and critical for
    sustaining human life.

    Through the International Coral Reef Initiative, the United States has
    entered into a partnership with 75 other countries, scientists and
    environmental groups to better protect, manage and monitor coral reefs
    and the life they support.

    The United States actively supports the Ramsar Convention, an
    international agreement to encourage local and national efforts to
    preserve and prudently manage wetlands of global significance.

    Through the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
    Species, we are attempting to curb international trade in rare plants
    and animals.

    The State Department is also working to promote American interests
    through the Convention on Biological Diversity. The United States has
    signed, but not ratified the Convention and is currently not a full
    partner in the negotiations.

    FORESTS

    "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

    -- Revelation 22:2

    The world's forests are disappearing at an unprecedented rate.

    Every year, forests four times the size of Switzerland are lost
    because of clearing and degradation. In the 1980s, an average of 38
    million acres of tropical forest were destroyed each year; those
    trends have shown no signs of decreasing in this decade. Subsistence
    farming, unsustainable logging, unsound development of large-scale
    industrial projects, and national policies that distort markets and
    subsidize forest conversion to other uses are causing deforestation
    worldwide, from Cambodia to Colombia, from Cameroon to Western Canada
    and the Western United States.

    The loss of forests has major implications for the world. Forests are
    home to 70 percent of all land-living animals and plants. They
    replenish the earth's atmosphere and provide the planet with fresh air
    by storing carbon and producing oxygen. They help filter pollution out
    of the water and protect against flooding, mudslides and erosion.
    Forests provide timber, medicines, food, and jobs.

    The United States has an enormous stake in the sustainable management
    of the world's forests. We are a major forest products importer and
    exporter. Our growing pharmaceutical and food processing industries
    have a vested interest in protecting the source materials for new
    medicines, pharmaceuticals, and food additives. Forests and their
    ability to absorb carbon dioxide lower the rate of global climate
    change.

    President Clinton has committed to the goal of achieving sustainable
    management of our forests by the year 2000. And the State Department
    and other agencies have been working closely with our global partners
    to slow deforestation around the world.

    Through the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, we
    are pushing for greater national accountability in forest conservation
    efforts, helping to build the capacity of less developed countries to
    manage their forests sustainably, and encouraging the private sector
    to develop codes of conduct to promote sustainable forest management.

    Through the U.N. system, the United States is advocating and assisting
    in establishing a process for monitoring global forest conditions.

    Through the convention on biological diversity, we will be working to
    establish national networks of protected forest areas.

    The United States has been supporting efforts to preserve forests in
    Russia, South America, Africa, and in the Asia-Pacific region. For
    example, the State Department has helped Suriname develop the capacity
    to consider the environmental, economic, and social consequences of
    timber production in its pristine forests; in Papua New Guinea, the
    Department is supporting a project to create small, village-based
    enterprises as alternatives to industrial-scale forest exploitation.

    OCEANS

    "Life originated in the sea, and about eighty percent of it is still
    there."

    -- Isaac Asimov

    The oceans, ravaged by pollution and overfishing, are in trouble.

    World fisheries are under unprecedented stress as competition for
    these finite resources increases. Pollution caused by the deliberate
    dumping of debris, chemical contaminants, agricultural and industrial
    runoffs, sewage, and vessel discharge has endangered marine life and
    habitats. Coral mining, blast fishing, the dumping of contaminated
    dredge material, and other human activities have destroyed or
    dramatically damaged ocean and coastal habitats and the wildlife they
    sustain.

    The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates
    that 70 percent of the world's commercially important fish stocks are
    fully or over-exploited. Chronic overfishing has depleted Atlantic cod
    and halibut stocks and resulted in the loss of thousands of American
    jobs. Stocks of some large ocean fish -- tunas, sharks, swordfish and
    marlin -- have declined 60 - 90 percent in the last two decades. Every
    year, 27 million tons of fish, marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles,
    and seabirds, one third of the world's catch, are caught
    unintentionally and thrown back dead or dying into the ocean.

    The United States, with one of the longest coastlines in the world and
    as a major maritime power and seafood consumer, has vested economic
    and environmental interests in protecting the oceans. In addition to
    providing a major food source, the oceans are maritime highways for
    efficient commerce and national security. They also serve as a source
    for oil, for medicine, and for recreation. The health and economic
    well-being of the world's coastal populations and communities are
    intimately linked to the quality of the marine environment.

    Balancing the health and productivity of the oceans with the needs and
    demands of growing human populations is one of the great challenges
    facing the world. Globally, regionally, and bilaterally, the State
    Department is working to clean up and protect the oceans and their
    resources.

    The United States was a leading champion of and one of the first
    nations to ratify a landmark 1995 United Nations Treaty designed to
    improve the management of shared fish stocks. This treaty combines a
    precautionary approach to fisheries management with strong provisions
    on enforcement and incentives for cooperation among countries.

    The United States is also working to strengthen regional fisheries
    conservation and management bodies, and to create such bodies where
    none exist. For example, in the International Commission for the
    Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the United States has successfully
    negotiated measures to greatly improve the conservation of Atlantic
    bluefin tuna and North Atlantic swordfish.

    The State Department led the fight for adoption of a Global Program of
    Action to combat the increasing threat from land based sources of
    marine pollution. Nations are working together, pursuant to this 1995
    Program, to combat ocean contamination from sources such as sewage and
    wastewater, persistent organic pollutants, nutrients, heavy metals,
    oils, and sediments.

    The United States organized and is working through the global London
    Dumping Convention to reduce ocean dumping of waste and contaminants
    and through the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization to reduce
    vessel discharge.

    ENVIRONMENTAL DIPLOMACY AT WORK

    Protecting the Earth's Ozone Layer

    The world can unite to solve challenging environmental problems. When
    it became clear that several man-made substances were severely
    damaging the Earth's ozone layer and that the result was likely to be
    millions of additional cases of skin cancer and cataracts worldwide,
    governments reacted. The 1987 Montreal Protocol and its subsequent
    amendments have dramatically reduced the emission of ozone-depleting
    substances into the atmosphere. Because of this landmark agreement,
    scientists now believe that the ozone hole will begin to close
    sometime soon after the turn of the century. Technological innovation
    has spurred the development of ready substitutes for the worst
    ozone-depleting chemicals. The greatest remaining challenge is to
    continue to help developing countries make the transition to these
    alternatives.

    Taking Action to Protect Tigers and Rhinos

    Tigers and rhinos are species in trouble. The lucrative trade in their
    parts and products has pushed them to the brink of extinction in many
    places, despite the prohibition of this trade under the Convention on
    the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In 1994, the
    United States placed sanctions on Taiwan under the Lacey Act for
    continuing to trade in rhino horn and tiger bone (products believed by
    some to have certain medicinal properties) and thereby undermining the
    effectiveness of CITES. In response to this action, Taiwan has taken
    dramatic steps to curtail all illegal wildlife trade, including trade
    in tiger bone and rhino horn. Taiwan has demonstrated an outstanding
    commitment to dealing with this serious problem. As a result, the
    United States has been able to lift the trade sanctions and now counts
    Taiwan as an ally in protecting the world's endangered wildlife.

    REGIONAL CHALLENGES

    The environmental fates of nations are inextricably and intimately
    linked within a region.

    Toxins in the Great Lakes threaten the health of Canadians and
    Americans. Sulfur belched from coal-burning plants in China creates
    acid rain in South Korea, North Korea and Japan. Water shortages add
    to the tension in the Middle East, where Syria's and Lebanon's control
    of Jordan River headwaters directly affects water supplies downriver
    in Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank and Gaza.

    In addition to these regional challenges, many countries also face
    internal environmental problems. In China, energy demand will triple
    by 2010. In Mexico City, 25 percent of the children have symptoms of
    asthma and in some parts of the city, over half of the children under
    five suffer acute respiratory infections. In India, less than 10
    percent of the nation's more than 3,000 cities and towns currently
    have adequate sewage collection and treatment facilities.

    The ability of countries to tackle these types of problems has
    significant implications for their internal political and economic
    stability, for the political and economic stability of their region,
    and by extension, for U.S. foreign policy. Today, for more and more
    United States diplomats working in our embassies and consulates around
    the world, implementing American foreign policy means working on
    environmental issues.

    The State Department now operates on the premise that countries
    sharing common resources share a common future and that neighboring
    nations are downstream and upwind, not just north and south or east
    and west, of each other. Threats to a shared forest, a common river,
    or a seamless coastline are forcing countries to expand their existing
    bilateral relationships to include environmental issues, and to create
    new regional frameworks to confront and combat shared environmental
    challenges.

    The State Department is integrating such regional and bilateral
    environmental issues into its diplomacy for three purposes:

    To help stabilize a region where pollution or the scarcity of
    resources contributes to political tensions. For example, the struggle
    for water in the Middle East has a direct impact on regional security
    and stability. The objective of including environmental issues in the
    peace process is to turn a source of conflict into a force for peace.
    Cooperation on Jordan River water can complement, even spark, other
    joint actions within the region;

    To enable the nations of one region to work cooperatively to develop
    initiatives to attack regional environmental problems. In 1996, 34
    countries in the Western Hemisphere met in Santa Cruz, Bolivia at the
    hemisphere's first summit on sustainable development to develop
    initiatives on critical environmental issues such as urban pollution,
    water resources, and land use; and

    To strengthen our relationship with allies by working together on
    internal environmental problems. The United States is working with
    Ukraine and the G-7 to improve reactor safety in order to prevent
    another nuclear disaster, and to close the Chernobyl nuclear power
    plant by the year 2000. By reducing the environmental risk, the State
    Department is helping to build strong ties and ensure a stable and
    secure relationship.

    And the State Department is integrating environmental issues into its
    diplomacy in two new ways: by establishing regional environmental hubs
    in key embassies to work on transboundary solutions to regional
    environmental problems, and by raising the profile of environmental
    issues in many of our bilateral relationships.

    The State Department will focus its regional and bilateral
    environmental diplomacy on five key environmental challenges that
    affect most, if not all, areas of the world: water resources, air
    quality, energy resources, land use, and urban and industrial growth.

    WATER RESOURCES

    "For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of
    brooks, of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys
    and hills."

    -- Deuteronomy 8:7

    Water is the indispensable resource. Whether used for drinking,
    irrigation, transportation, or energy, people must have it.

    But in increasing numbers of countries and regions around the world,
    the demand for fresh water outstrips the supply, and the quality of
    that supply is rapidly declining.

    From 1950 to 1993, the amount of irrigated land increased from
    approximately 250 million acres to approximately 600 million acres.
    This increase has put enormous pressure on aquifers, rivers, and other
    water sources. Erosion, pesticide contamination, and other
    agricultural run-off are polluting water sources at an unprecedented
    rate and threatening human health, biodiversity, and coastal
    resources. At the same time, population growth, particularly in the
    cities, has created major problems for water supply and treatment.
    Polluted water is a leading culprit in the increasing spread of a
    number of deadly diseases, including cholera.

    Ensuring the availability of enough clean water for an increasingly
    thirsty planet is vital to American interests. The struggle for
    limited water resources has historically created tension among nations
    in key regions of the world, and the ability of individual nations to
    provide drinkable water for their people directly affects their
    continued prosperity and stability.

    The State Department is actively involved in helping countries and
    regions around the world counter threats to their fresh water
    resources.

    In the arid Middle East, addressing and relieving chronic water
    shortages are major concerns for the nations there and pose a serious
    long-term challenge for the development of a lasting peace in the
    region. In Amman, Jordan, the government routinely closes the taps to
    conserve the limited amount of water available for its citizens. In
    Gaza, "fresh" water pumped from the aquifers does not meet world
    health standards for potable water. As part of the Middle East Peace
    Process, the United States chairs the Multilateral Working Group on
    Water Resources and plays an active role in the Working Group on
    Environment and other fora. Through these structures, the United
    States is helping regional parties resolve critical issues related to
    water allocation, treatment, and supply.

    In India, an estimated 70 percent of surface water is polluted. Less
    than 10 percent of the nation's more than 3,000 cities and towns
    currently have adequate sewage collection and treatment facilities.
    Delhi alone puts 630 million liters of untreated sewage into the
    Yamuna River every day. Waterborne diseases account for two-thirds of
    all illnesses in the country. Under the U.S.-India Common Agenda for
    the Environment, launched by the State Department in 1995, the U.S.
    Agency for International Development is contributing $125 million in
    loan guarantees and providing technical assistance and training for
    the development and financing of commercially viable water supply,
    sewage, waste water treatment, and similar urban infrastructure
    projects in India.

    AIR QUALITY

    "Clear the air! clean the sky! wash the wind!"

    -- T.S. Eliot

    For more than a billion people who live in urban areas around the
    world, the air they breathe is harmful to their health.

    Over three-quarters of the world's 20 largest megacities regularly
    exceed the allowable limits for at least two harmful pollutants
    monitored by the World Health Organization. The effects can be
    serious. For example, sulfur dioxide affects human health and creates
    acid rain which can erode buildings, kill aquatic organisms, destroy
    croplands, and damage habitats. Nitrogen emissions in the presence of
    sunlight can create a form of oxygen toxic to humans and other living
    things. Excessive levels of lead can cause a host of health problems,
    even brain damage.

    The rise in use of fossil fuels around the world -- in cars,
    factories, and homes -- has pumped millions of additional tons of
    these and other pollutants into the air. While countries are
    struggling to provide sufficient energy resources to power their
    economies, they must also set and enforce standards and regulations to
    protect air quality and human health.

    The United States is offering technical expertise and promoting the
    export of clean technologies to help other nations improve their air
    quality and public health, support American business, and promote the
    goals of sustainable development.

    In Eastern Europe, decades of reliance on coal-fired power plants
    coupled with a lack of environmental regulation have severely degraded
    air quality. Air pollution has been implicated in a nearly 50 percent
    increase in lung cancer rates among longtime residents of Krakow,
    Poland and an approximately 25 percent increase in infant mortality in
    parts of the Czech Republic. The Regional Environmental Center for
    Central and Eastern Europe, which the United States was instrumental
    in establishing, has taken a leading role working with local and
    national governments both directly and through the NGO community to
    help develop strong environmental regulations on air quality and to
    encourage their enforcement.

    In Mexico, air pollution is a serious problem. Twenty-five percent of
    the children in Mexico City have symptoms of asthma, and in parts of
    the city with very high levels of particulate pollution, over half the
    children under five suffer acute respiratory infections. Along the
    U.S.-Mexican border, air pollution on one side affects the quality of
    air on the other side. In 1995, the two governments established an air
    quality improvement district for El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez,
    Mexico, which is charged with developing a system of incentives and
    credits for new industry to reduce air pollution in the area.

    ENERGY RESOURCES

    "Energy will do anything that can be done in the world."

    -- J.W. von Goethe

    Energy drives economies. It lights the cities, powers the cars, heats
    the homes and runs the factories.

    As countries around the world continue to develop, world consumption
    of energy could double by the year 2030.

    The choice of which energy sources to develop are forcing governments
    and the private sector to face a series of complex and interrelated
    problems that affect societies at all levels. Coal, while abundant,
    easily convertible and cheap, produces 1.3 times the carbon dioxide (a
    greenhouse gas that causes global warming) per unit of energy as oil,
    and 1.8 times that of natural gas. It also contains trace amounts of
    toxic chemicals, is usually high in acid rain-causing sulfur, and
    leaves a residue of soot and ash. Natural gas, a much more
    environmentally benign energy source, also brings with it attendant
    problems: leaks from natural gas pipelines add methane to the
    atmosphere, while liquid natural gas poses potential hazards during
    its transportation. Nuclear power is a potentially limitless energy
    source and generates neither carbon dioxide nor other greenhouse
    gases, but there are environmental and safety risks associated with
    plant operation (Chernobyl and Three Mile Island) and with transport
    and storage of radioactive wastes.

    Oil, the most versatile energy source, also raises environmental and
    political concerns. The concentration of reserves in relatively few
    countries makes it a politically volatile commodity. The highways of
    the world are congested with polluting automobiles running on
    gasoline, an oil derivative. Disasters related to the transport of oil
    in the world's fleet of supertankers remain etched in the public's
    mind; while the deliberate torching of Kuwaiti oil wells provides a
    vivid picture of waste and environmental degradation.

    The power sources of the future may be wind, solar energy and hydrogen
    fuel cells -- but the technologies are not yet developed to allow for
    their cost-effective and widespread use.

    The United States, like other countries, is working on balancing the
    trade-offs in our energy choices. And we have a strong interest in
    helping other countries evaluate the best mixes of energy sources for
    their own needs, so that social, economic, environmental and security
    factors are all considered.

    China's demand for energy will triple by 2010. It could surpass the
    United States as the largest consumer of energy by 2020. China's
    reliance on coal for its energy needs results in high levels of sulfur
    emissions which cause acid rain in China and in other countries in the
    region. The United States is working with China through a bilateral
    forum launched by Vice President Gore and Premier Li Peng. Through
    this forum, which will address a wide range of environmental issues,
    the State Department and other U.S. agencies are working to address
    the social, economic, and environmental challenges posed by China's
    energy needs, and to find opportunities to apply new U.S. technology
    in addressing these critical problems. Also, the U.S. is helping China
    inventory its emissions of greenhouse gases and upgrade its
    inefficient pulverized coal power to a more economic and
    environmentally sound system.

    Though eleven years have passed since the explosion which destroyed
    Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, its
    consequences persist. Genetic damage, increased cancer rates,
    radioactive contamination of rivers, lakes, and water tables near
    Chernobyl are still widespread and remain difficult to predict.
    Together with the G-7, the United States is working to improve safety
    at Soviet-designed nuclear reactors in several countries and on a
    comprehensive program to close the remaining operational unit of the
    Chernobyl nuclear power plant by the year 2000. This program supports
    broad, deep reforms in Ukraine's energy sector, including increased
    efficiency, which also promotes Ukraine's economic stability.

    LAND USE

    "Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life,
    its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his
    faith together with his life."

    -- Joseph Conrad

    By 2020, the world will need to feed 8 billion people.

    New crop varieties, pesticides and irrigation continue to improve
    yields around the world. However, technological advances have not been
    enough to offset the need for additional croplands. And as the search
    for and use of arable lands intensifies, the amount of erosion,
    siltation, deforestation, and desertification will increase.

    Many governments around the world are faced with very difficult
    decisions about land use. Local and national leaders must weigh the
    competing goals of protecting a forest against providing additional
    croplands. They must consider whether regulations and protective
    measures to preserve a cropland's long-term viability, such as
    limiting irrigation and restricting types of crops planted, place too
    much of an economic burden on their citizens by limiting crop yields
    in the short-term. They must evaluate whether to control certain types
    of land transactions -- for example, selling arable land for
    commercial/urban use or to preserve it for agricultural production.

    These decisions by governments have social, environmental, and
    economic implications, which in turn affect our foreign policy. To
    promote domestic and regional stability, the State Department is
    working bilaterally and regionally to help countries with land use
    issues.

    In Central Asia, planners have diverted most of the fresh river waters
    that once flowed to the Aral Sea, to irrigate water-intensive cotton
    crops. Only 10 percent of that water now reaches the Aral. As a
    result, the Aral, once the fourth largest inland sea, has lost over
    half its surface area since 1960 and continues to shrink. The
    accompanying loss of the commercial fishing industry, deterioration in
    water quality, contamination of the soil from salt blown hundreds of
    miles from the former sea bottom, and declining ground water levels
    have devastated a 400,000 square kilometer region. This summer, the
    State Department will open a Regional Environmental Hub in Tashkent to
    promote regional cooperation on water management in the Aral Sea
    basin.

    The hub will work with the U.S. Agency for International Development
    (USAID) which is already taking a two-pronged approach: in addition to
    installing water treatment and distribution systems and public health
    laboratory facilities in several countries, USAID is also working with
    governments in the region to develop sound water management practices
    and cross-border water sharing agreements.

    As a continent, Africa suffers from the harsh effects of
    desertification -- the spreading of the desert to once productive,
    arable lands. Dire economic conditions in parts of Africa force people
    to extract as much as possible from the land now in order to survive.
    As a result, overgrazing, deforestation, inefficient technologies and
    management practices, and other factors have degraded over a billion
    acres of cropland, moderately or severely. Under the leadership of
    Vice President Gore and South African Deputy President Mbeki, the
    United States and South Africa are working together to combat the
    spread of deserts by improving capabilities to predict droughts,
    clearing invasive plant species that choke waterways, and providing
    training for better water management. The State Department will open a
    regional environmental hub in Addis Ababa this summer, and one of the
    hub's primary focuses will be developing regional efforts to combat
    desertification.

    URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL GROWTH

    "We cannot afford merely to sit down and deplore the evils of city
    life as inevitable...We must set ourselves vigorously about the task
    of improving them -- "

    -- Theodore Roosevelt

    By the year 2000, it is estimated that -- for the first time in
    history -- half the world's population will live in cities.

    In developing countries, cities account for 70 percent of Gross
    Domestic Product (GDP). The rapid rate of urban and industrial growth
    has been a catalyst for tremendous economic dynamism in places like
    Asia and Latin America. But it also has serious environmental
    consequences. Most municipal and national governments lack the
    capacity to effectively treat sewage, dispose of solid waste, regulate
    air and noise pollution, or control sprawl. Most industries do not
    have pollution prevention technologies that can ensure clean
    production methods at affordable costs. As tens of millions of
    additional people are born in or migrate to urban and industrial
    areas, the magnitude of these problems multiplies exponentially.

    Urban and industrial centers increasingly suffer from a proliferation
    of environmental health problems, including the re-emergence of many
    infectious diseases. As urban areas expand, arable land disappears as
    do wetlands and forests which filter water and air and provide flood
    protection. With many of the world's major cities located on or near
    the coast, pollution of the marine environment and the resulting
    damage to fisheries, coral reefs, and beaches is another major
    concern.

    Engaging governments and the private sector in addressing the
    environmental effects of rapid urban and industrial growth is in
    America's interests: healthy and livable urban environments are key to
    long-term stability, social equity, and economic growth.

    The State Department is using regional and bilateral structures to
    promote sustainable cities around the world.

    By 2000, it is expected that Asia will have over half of the world's
    20 most populous cities, with close to 150 million people living in
    them. The Asian Development Bank estimates that six Asian megacities
    already suffer from severe groundwater degradation. In three of these
    cities, sewage facilities exist for less than 15 percent of the
    population. Through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum
    (APEC), the State Department is promoting cooperative, integrated
    approaches to address the problems posed by urbanization and
    industrial expansion. APEC initiatives include efforts to: promote
    clean production technologies; phase out leaded gas and reduce harmful
    emissions; use innovative financing mechanisms to allow cities to
    invest in urban infrastructure such as waste water and solid waste
    collection and treatment; and reduce urban sources of marine
    pollution.

    Cairo, already one of the world's most crowded cities, is adding a
    quarter of a million people every year. Urban and industrial pollution
    are major and growing problems there, as untreated waste water, soot,
    lead emissions, and other pollutants combine to pose a severe threat
    to human health. Levels of suspended particulates and lead are among
    the highest anywhere and cause an estimated 10,000-25,000 additional
    deaths each year. Under an initiative launched by Vice President Gore
    and Egyptian President Mubarak, the United States is working with
    Egypt to develop and implement sustainable solutions to Cairo's
    problems including: converting taxis and buses to natural gas;
    phasing-out leaded gasoline; moving smelters out of Cairo; and
    investing in modern, clean technology.

    NEW TOOLS

    The State Department has developed new diplomatic tools to integrate
    environmental issues into foreign policy.

    Six new "regional environmental hubs" will open this year; six more
    are scheduled to be in operation in 1998. The regional hubs were
    created to address transboundary environmental problems that can be
    solved only if affected nations within a region cooperate with one
    another. While the hubs all share a common approach of helping
    neighboring nations work together, each hub will tackle the priority
    environmental problems specific to its region:

    The hub for Central America and the Caribbean, located in San Jose,
    Costa Rica, will focus on the loss of forests and biological diversity
    and on the management of coral reefs and coastlines.

    In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Central Asian hub will work to encourage
    cooperation on water-related problems in the Aral Sea Basin.

    Desertification, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water use will
    be the focus of the Eastern Africa hub in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    The South Asia hub, located in Kathmandu, Nepal, will promote regional
    cooperation on alternative energy, clean air, water sharing, and
    environmental disaster preparedness.

    In Amman, Jordan, the Middle East hub will work on water resources,
    desertification, and coral reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba as part of the
    Middle East peace process.

    And in Bangkok, Thailand, the Southeast Asian hub will create
    initiatives to promote the sustainable management of forest and marine
    resources.

    The State Department is using or expanding its bilateral relationships
    with Brazil, India, Japan, China, Russia, Ukraine, the European Union,
    Mexico, South Africa, and Egypt to focus on environmental issues.
    These bilateral frameworks allow us to coordinate our efforts and to
    develop joint initiatives with allies on global, regional, and
    bilateral problems.

    Message from Eileen B. Claussen

    Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International
    Environmental and Scientific Affairs

    Environmental diplomacy is not an entirely new concept.

    In October of 1973, Congress passed legislation creating within the
    State Department the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental
    and Scientific Affairs (OES). The result of Congress's foresight is a
    bureau that for almost 25 years has been promoting the protection of
    the world's environment.

    By negotiating key treaties and agreements and ensuring their
    effective implementation, OES has been instrumental in such diverse
    areas as conserving the unique resources of the Arctic and Antarctic,
    fighting to uphold the international moratorium on commercial whaling,
    and providing a forum for our scientists to collaborate with
    colleagues overseas in areas including health, agriculture, and basic
    sciences. Through these and other achievements, OES has made an
    important contribution to improving the quality of life for Americans
    and people around the world.

    Much of this work has occurred outside the spotlight of better-known
    United States foreign policy objectives. But today that is changing.
    International environmental issues are moving from the periphery to
    the mainstream, as their importance is better understood and the
    urgency of addressing them increases.

    The ability of individual nations and regions to provide clean air,
    water, and energy for their citizens is critical to maintaining
    stability and growth. The decisions the world makes about reducing
    greenhouse gases, conserving forests, and limiting the emissions of
    toxic chemicals are literally shaping the planet for this and future
    generations.

    We have produced this report outlining our priorities and actions to
    build greater understanding of, and broader participation in, our
    efforts to tackle the growing number of increasingly complex
    international environmental challenges. We are committed to working
    with you, hearing from you, and moving forward together.

    (end text)