Environmental Cooperation Successes

In signing the Trade Act of 2002, President Bush recognized that advancing free trade and promoting environmental objectives are mutually supportive.

Trade agreements that the United States negotiates under the Trade Act of 2002 include comprehensive environmental provisions that are legally binding.

The United States also negotiates environmental cooperation mechanisms along side all of its Trade Agreements. In these mechanisms, the United States commits to implementing cooperative environmental activities with its trading partners.

In the CAFTA-DR region, the Administration currently is implementing approximately $20 million in cooperative environmental projects. The Administration has committed to support $40 million a year to labor and environment projects through fiscal year 2009. (See separate fact sheet on CAFTA-DR.)

Under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation the United States, Canada and Mexico have devoted $9 million per year to the support of collaborative environmental projects and other activities that support the protection of the environment in the Hemisphere.

The Administration also implements cooperative environmental projects with our other FTA partners, including Chile, Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, and Singapore.

Chile

The U.S. Trade & Development Agency funded preparation of written guidelines and protocols for (1) planning and conducting environmental site assessments at contaminated sites in Chile; (2) evaluating remediation alternative approaches and selecting preferred remediation options; and (3) identifying fiscal mechanisms and administrative procedures for undertaking remedial actions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked with Chilean National Environmental Commission (CONAMA) to train officials from local governments, NGOs, industry associations, and academia on methods for involving the public in environmental decision-making.

The Environmental Law Institute has trained judges from all over Chile on the fundamentals of environmental law.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has worked with Chilean officials to promote best practices in establishing and managing Marine Protected areas.

 Yosemite National Park and Torres del Paine National Park recently entered into a "Sister Parks Partnership" in an effort to improve protected area management at both parks through an exchange of best practices. In the past, the Parks have cooperated to conserve, preserve, and improve management of the respective parks.

Similarly, the U.S. Forest Service has trained Chilean Forestry officials on trail design, construction, and maintenance and organized 80 volunteers from Chile and the U.S. to reconstruct trials in Torres del Paine and close trails the use of which was causing environmental degradation and visitor safety concerns.

Morocco

EPA has conducted numerous trainings in Morocco related to strengthening and improving enforcement of environmental laws and public participation in environmental decision-making.

For example, EPA has trained officials on (1) the elements of effective environmental law; (2) the principles of environmental enforcement and compliance; (3) the principles of environmental impact assessment; (4) economic incentives in environmental decision-making; and (5) U.S. air, water, and waste standards; (6) conducting environmental compliance inspections; and (7) environmental permitting.

EPA also is (1) helping Morocco implement a program for enforcing environmental rules and regulations in its textile sector; and (2) assisting Morocco in developing industry partnerships that will address compliance assistance and pollution prevention issues.

The Department of Interior worked with USAID to develop sustainable tourism in two regions of Morocco, promoting environmental conservation and generating income for rural communities.

The U.S. Trade & Development Agency awarded a grant to a Moroccan agency for managing the detritus and waste water from olive oil factories. The grantee will partner with a U.S. company to do a feasibility study for a treatment plant in the Sebou River basin.

NOAA’s National Ocean Service is helping Morocco implement a United Nations Environment Program//National Plan of Action project to update the baseline data needed for science-based decision making in protecting the ecosystems in three of Morocco’s protected areas. This project should also help develop integrated watershed management for these regions.

Jordan

Since entry into force of our trade agreement, Jordan has benefited enormously from U.S. Government programs and activities that provided support to the environment sector by helping the Ministry of Environment prepare mission and vision statements and strategic goals.

Jordan has (1) established a Ministry of Environment; (2) created a 400 person strong Environmental Police Department—the Rangers; and (3) enacted an environmental law and by-laws. The U.S. Government continues to support the Ministry of Environment in environmental capacity building and works in close collaboration with other line ministries (Water and Irrigation, and Industry) in addressing environmental issues.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) helped support a feasibility study and design preparations for an industrial wastewater treatment plant at the Al-Hassan Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) in northern Jordan to treat liquid industrial wastewater from the QIZ, particularly textile industry wastes, and brokered a deal for the industrial wastewater treatment plant to be funded completely by the private sector.

New USAID agreements with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will promote improved watershed management and support improved compliance and enforcement of environmental law, by-laws, and regulations, respectively.

The U.S. Forest Service has trained Ministry of Water and Environment Rangers on watershed protection and EPA recently trained Jordanians from the Rangers, the Ministry of Environment, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, the Greater Amman Municipal Government, the Prime Ministry, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, and the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct environmental compliance inspections.

The Jordanian Ministry of Environment is taking a leadership role with the International Network of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement toward the formation of a regional network of environmental compliance and enforcement officials to help share information on successful programs, expand capacity building opportunities, and address transboundary compliance issues.

Bahrain and Oman

EPA, the Department of Justice, and other U.S. Departments and Agencies have and continue to conduct numerous trainings and workshops in Bahrain and Oman related to development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws and improving standard-setting and public participation in environmental decision-making.

For example, EPA has trained officials in Bahrain and Oman on (1) the principles of environmental law and enforcement; (2) conducting environmental inspections and writing permits; (3) the principles of pollution prevention and cleaner production; and (4) conducting and reviewing environmental impact assessments.

Singapore

The United States and Singapore have been working together in the ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities. Singapore chairs the working group. USAID and the Council of State Governments are funding a program that pairs States in the United States with cities in Asia to work together to achieve cleaner air, water, and land.

So far, Oregon is working with Chiang Mai and Hanoi on improving air quality; New Hampshire is working with Phnom Penh and Ha Long to improve water quality; and Maryland is working with Balikpapan City and Iloilo City on land contamination issues.

Singapore and the United States are jointly hosting a regional workshop in October 2007 in Singapore to train port inspectors and custom authorities to identify illegal shipments of ramin wood, a tropical hardwood listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

North America (NAAEC)

The United States, through the leadership of EPA, and in coordination with experts from other Federal Departments and Agencies, has collaborated with Canada and Mexico through the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to preserve and protect the North American environment. The CEC has also been an important forum for promoting the development of mutually supportive trade and environmental policies.

To further this effort the CEC has implemented a trade and environment program that has implemented projects on important issues ranging from how do the Parties use market forces to promote sustainable development to what are the environmental impacts of the NAFTA. It has also served as a forum for bringing together senior government officials to collaborate on ways to address these important issues.

Enforcement professionals from Canada, Mexico and the United States have joined together to implement projects and training that stop illegal shipments of hazardous waste and materials, ozone-depleting substances, protected species, and other illegal materials that could threaten human health or the environment in North America. Projects include developing a process for electronic sharing of information about imported and exported products in North America; on-line training courses for customs officials in the three countries; and training of judges in Mexico.

The United States has collaborated with Mexico and Canada to protect species of common conservation concern in North America. The three countries identified 16 species of common concern and developed North American Conservation Action Plans for the species. Three of these plans are under implementation to protect the humpback whale, pink-footed shearwater, and leatherback turtle. Preparations to protect other species (such as the Monarch butterfly and the vaquita porpoise) are underway.

The United States, Canada, and Mexico have collaborated to improve comparability of environmental information and data. In the area of Pollutant Release and Transfer Registries (PRTR), the United States has worked with Mexico to assist in the development of Mexico’s PRTR program, and with both Mexico and Canada, to expand the comparability of the chemicals reported in all three countries’ PRTR systems. The information is now available to North American decision makers, and other stakeholders, on Google Earth, where users can identify facilities in any of the three countries and display chemical release information from the Agencies’ PRTR systems.

The United States also has collaborated with the other countries to assist in the development of Mexico’s air emissions inventories. The three countries are now collaborating to synchronize their inventories, both in terms of methodologies and the specific years in which to make updates available, and use the results to better coordinate North American air quality management.

The United States, Mexico, and Canada have worked to establish a framework for cooperation in the sound management of chemicals of concern, such as those that are persistent and toxic, and which may bioaccumulate in living organisms. Through North American Regional Action Plans, the Parties have collaborated to reduce or eliminate the most toxic and persistent pollutants. This has led to the elimination of DDT use in Mexico and elimination of the production and use of chlordane in North America. Other chemicals being addressed include PCBs, mercury, dioxins/furans/HCB, and lindane.