Press Briefing

Today we renewed with the World Health Organization a working document that we had first signed in Rio that led to work on second-hand smoke and its impact on children. […] This time we have re-upped it, but we have added children’s health as an indicator, because that is something that is of significant importance to both the President and to me. Because children are [not] just little adults, they do metabolize differently. If we can keep them healthy, not only are we protecting the future, we are making it healthier for all of us, because if they are sick, we know what is going to happen to us in the not too distant future.

So there actually is progress being made in the agreements that were reached. The United States report on sanitation and water is a commitment to moving forward that is very important The focus of the world on the importance of accessible energy and sustainable energy are again good. [These are] good agreements and good goals to have in front of us, and to get the world community together to commit to these things is significant. Sometimes people miss that.

One of the biggest lessons that I believe we have learned since Rio is the importance of partnerships on the ground. We need to have the collaborative support of the people who are being impacted by the decisions being made. We need to have NGOs and we need to have the private sector. We are not going to have some massive government program whether it is from the United Nations or from individual developed countries. It is going to require partnerships if we are going to have the impact we want. But as you know, John Turner is the one who has been actively involved in all of the negotiations. Last night there was a lot that went on, and I have got to throw it over to John and get him to give you an update as to how everything played out last night.

JOHN TURNER: Thank you. We are very pleased to have the Administrator here. Certainly Administrator Whitman is responsible for leadership that implements so many of our natural resource stewardship components for air, land, and water. Being a former governor, she understands so well that we need to weave the environmental stewardship in with the fabric of economic well-being, investing in education and health.

As you are all aware, we are very near to completing a Plan of Action. I think it is a very positive statement. It is a message of hope to impoverished areas of the world. I think it builds an excellent framework for going forward. It reinforces the important work done in Doha on trade and the commitment in Monterrey to increase overall financial commitments that are going to be so badly needed to meet the critical issues.

One of the things that we are very pleased about is a new compact of the world community both for developing and developed nations to the reorganization of governance and creating the proper environment at the national and local level. We cannot have sustainability if we have violence, and we don’t have rule of law and the public does not participate in the decision making process. There must also be transparency for the press. The public investments in health, education, and good science are a real breakthrough.

As the Administrator mentioned, the United States effort was to complete a successful plan of action and declaration. The work on the declaration will go on today. It is obvious that a great deal of time was spent recently on the energy package. We are very pleased the United States worked very closely in molding that package, which I think is an excellent statement realizing that energy is an absolutely essential component for lifting people out of poverty and to having better environmental stewardship, and better health and education.

The energy package looks at energy access and it recognizes that different countries will have to build an energy security based on different strategies and different fuels to meet their needs. Rather than mandate one narrow technological approach, it is a recognition that as we look for energy access, we all have to find and implement cleaner utilization of energy and that we all must address these important issues of employment. So yes, it is important to focus on renewables, but also to focus on cleaner technology and existing fuel mixes in countries that they can depend on for more efficient use. The United States and our President continues to be committed to working with developing countries. The United States is a leader in investing both at home and overseas in renewables, helping those countries as they build their economies to utilize more renewable fuels.

As the Administrator mentioned, yesterday we rolled out an oceans initiative. Today we will focus on a part of our energy package that is indoor pollution and the impacts on the health of millions of people dying from poorly ventilated utilization of pre-industrial fuels including wood, manure and so forth. We are going to focus on water with the Administrator. Our Secretary and other counterparts will roll out a conservation package dealing with forests. The Secretary will focus on that.

I want to go back and recap in general what is the overriding interest in the dollar commitments. The President is quoted as saying this is a journey we are all on for sustainability. It is a journey to which the United States is willing to commit now.

The majority is going to be new appropriations, new commitments. The President has made more unprecedented efforts than any nation in history:

• The President’s commitment in Monterrey -- the Millennium Challenge Account of $5 billion -- to help lift poor people around the world.
• The Africa Education Initiative, of $200 million, for which Senator Kassebaum will be a wonderful spokesperson.
• The commitment on HIV/AIDS and the different proposals in 02, 03, 04, is about $2.5-$3 billion in new money.
• The water issue, which the Administrator and other partners talked about, is about $1.5 billion.
• We have $500 million in commitments for the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), one of the most important sources for developing countries to [receive] help for environmental programs.
• The Congo Basin Initiative totals $50 million.
• The pledge to fight hunger here is an immediate response. There will also be a lot more to come. I have put down $40 million.
• In addition, we are putting out also $600 million due to investment credits. This is $600 million that we think will leverage about $8.7 billion in the developing world.
• We have the new African Growth and Opportunity Act that is going to allow goods out of Africa to flow into the U.S. market tariff free and which has meant a quarter billion dollars in new trade here in just the last year.

I want to remind you that the United States provides a market for $450 million in imports from developing countries. The President is committed to a dialogue with Congress to increase trade.

QUESTION: NPR -- Some of the commitments and the targets and timetables in this package, say that essentially in 13 years you are going provide fresh water for half a billion and sanitation for a billion people in the same time period. It seems like an impossibly short timeframe to accomplish those things, particularly concerning the money that is available. Why commit to targets and timetables like that given the commitment of dollars the U.S. had made?

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: It is important to understand that the dollar commitment is substantial and it is not just a U.S. dollar commitment that needs to be part of this equation. This is a world commitment that needs to be made and it is also something that no one country can solve on its own. It is going to take the partnerships and it is also going to involve the private sector. You will see a lot that is taking place right now that is alleviating some of the worst conditions relative to water, for very little money- small projects on the ground. But as far as providing clean drinking water to people, this is essential when you consider that you have approximately two million children a year who die from water-borne diseases. This is something that as a world community we need to recognize and look forward on. There is a lot of new technology that is coming forth. We believe it is going to be possible with partnerships, in collaboration with other nations, and with the support of the private sector, to be able deliver on this and it is an important goal for the future. And that is why we felt comfortable going forth with it, particularly when, as the United States has recognized there is a very close relationship with sanitation. The two things are going to work together and will help us. Each will help us reach the other target.

QUESTION: Our question is specifically on the energy review last night. There was obviously a lot of compromise going around on both sides on this. What I would like to ask is, would the text that came out basically encourage the programs that were on a regional level that are taking place now? What did that energy text give us that we would not have had without this conference? It seems that these programs around the world are already in place? The U.S. has one in place, Brazil has one in place. What do the energy agreements give us that we would not have had in Johannesburg?

JOHN TURNER: As you have heard me say before, text and words by themselves do not provide a lot of energy and do not save a child from a water-borne disease. Text does not save people from infection with HIV/AIDS. It is a commitment to action; it is dollars. I think the world community here has gathered as a global family realizing that energy access is essential, and that as we develop new fuel resources and new fuel technologies, that they must be clean. So the statement recognizes the very diversity of the G-77 developing countries that do need energy. It said our approach is going to have to be different.

Brazil is obviously a wonderful leader in global energy. I was interested that other countries, like South Africa, said that this is an unrealistic goal for them. On renewables, we all need to work on more energy access. The United States is in a wonderful position with renewables and more efficient engines to help reach out. We now have agreements with India, China, Central America where we have pledged to be the partners with those countries in a way that reduces emissions of greenhouse gasses. It was hard to word a statement reflecting those different means. Our overall goal was to try to predict approaches that did not meet the needs of different countries, so we hammered that out.

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: I also think the fact that this occurred here draws attention to it and it also helps encourage those who are going to be developing the alternative technology. Bringing focus to communicating the message is very important. The focus would not have been the same if there had not been a World Summit and if you had not got the world leaders and the delegations from around the world to hammer out the text. While on the surface that text does not do as much as some people might have liked, it is very significant and it is useful and it does help focus people and raise the awareness of the importance of these issues. It also encourages those who will be the ones who will be developing the alternate technology to focus on that, and that it is real and that this is the future. Do not put this off if you are on the cusp of investing in research. The President has vastly increased the dollars of the Department of Energy for research and development of alternative technologies, hydrogen fuel cell, and others. And this adds to that and encourages those who will be doing that kind of work. It is a working investment. There is recognition, internationally, that this is the way of the future.

QUESTION: Given as you say the importance of having world leaders here to discuss these problems, is there not just a bit of contempt for the fact that we can not even seem to get our Secretary of State here for more than just a couple of hours for the final day of this conference, particularly when as we heard yesterday and as we heard today in the plenary session, there is almost consistent criticism of the United States in particular with regard to Kyoto and its positions on global warming? It seems to me that we are out of sync.

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: In no way does this represent arrogance or dismissal on the part of the United States to what is occurring here. This delegation is broad and it is very deep. People who have been working on the text have been the people that have the technical expertise. Secretary Powell will be here because this is an important venue. I am here because this is an important venue, because we want to be part of it. Other leaders may have devoted more time to it, but it does not mean that their commitment to the outcome is any deeper or greater than what the United States Government’s commitment is going to be and has been right along. That is the important thing here. The President both domestically and through the delegation that is here made it very clear that he has a commitment to the goals that have been established and the focus of this entire Summit.

We are, I believe, in a very strong position, and it would be wrong for anyone to interpret the President’s lack of participation here as in any way a negative reflection on the Summit or his involvement or engagement with the international community. He was at Monterrey. He was at the G-8 most recently in Canada. He has been very involved. He was unfortunately not able to be here. Secretary Powell has been enormously involved with his international counterparts. This may have been the one opportunity for many others to participate, but the leaders of the U.S. government have been participating right along. This is one stop along the way and it would be a mistake to see this Summit, as important as it is, as being the end point of anything, which it is not. It is really setting the stage for the next set of achievements that we are all going to be looking for.

JOHN TURNER: Countries ought to be judged by their willingness to help and their work on the lead up to the WSSD. I can tell you that the President was very involved, very committed. As the Administrator said, we are on a journey where we now have to implement these commitments that have been made. We brought a delegation of the people responsible for implementing these real actions, these commitments on the ground. They have spent their time not only bringing our package, but engaging experts from other countries and the NGO community, and further bringing more partners on, and increasing the resources. Every one of these partnerships that I have told you about is getting sign-ups and commitments daily as we go forward and implement. I think that is the most exciting thing that has occurred. We brought the people into Johannesburg from the United States who can implement and we are all going down this path together, soliciting other partners, and increasing our opportunities.

QUESTION: I think there has been a sense from NGOs here that these conferences may have gotten too big, too diffuse. That they are too large to handle all of the issues and that may be it is time to go back to smaller conferences on energy, water, dividing it out again. Do you think that these conferences are effective and that there is a future for this kind of mega UN conference on issues like this?

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: There are also all those other conferences. There are conferences on water, on air, on energy -- the smaller, more focused conferences. But I think it is a good exercise to have the world community get together from time to time. You do not want to do it too regularly, because of the amount of effort it takes for the host country and for everyone involved to put on a mega conference, but it is good to have everybody together to be able to share ideas. One of the biggest mistakes that I believe we make in the environment certainly, speaking as the head of the EPA, is that we tend to segment, as if we can discuss water separate from air, or separate from energy or transportation. We cannot. Those things are all inter-related, so it is important to bring together all the voices from time to time, to recognize those factors. We have got to break down the silent approach that says that we can somehow deliver clean water and drinkable water to everybody and not also be concerned about air and depositions -- that we can ignore any one part of the environment. It is important to have this kind of a conference. It is important to bring everyone together to be able to command the attention of the world press and the attention of the world stage to commit themselves to goals, to bring up these issues that are of great importance.

QUESTION: Do you know what the main sticking point right now?

JOHN TURNER: Much of today’s focus well be putting the statement together to reflect the collected hopes. Shorter statements will reflect the interests of the heads of state and I think that is where the focus will be. They are taking the draft to President Mbeki, that I personally worked on last night. Countries now have it as of late last night and are working on it.

QUESTION: China has announced that it will ratify Kyoto. I was wondering whether this would have any impact on the United States and why?

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: No, I can definitely say that very unequivocally. The United States and this President has made an enormous commitment to climate change that I see all too often misinterpreted. He has set up an aggressive policy to reduce our greenhouse gas intensity by 18% over the next 10 years and if science allows, to stop the emission of greenhouse gases and reduce concentrations as we move forward. He has requested another $700 million in this budget in the upcoming year on climate change research and initiatives for alternative fuels and other climate change actions. We have a number of programs that are already having an impact on climate change.

I am glad that China is stepping forward on that, because one of the concerns was obviously developing nations and their role and what we can do to help them leap frog on transfer of technology, over what we went through during the industrial revolution and other times, where our resources where so concentrated on the high fossil fuels and degraded the environment so greatly. I do not see that this is going to … with Kyoto in and of itself and …the concerns about energy independence for the United States and our ability to move toward those kinds of targets. The President has put out a target that is very much in line with what our Kyoto targets would be, but [to] do it in a way that allows us the flexibility to ensure energy independence and a sustainable flow of energy at a price we can afford.

QUESTION: But what does that actually say about cutting huge international support you have got 70 something countries that have signed up now, you have got a number of others that indicate they will. What does that say about U.S. leadership? You have a global census on a piece of paper that is a treaty.

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: U.S. leadership is in action, and we are taking action. [For example, the U.S. has announced] the $4.5 billion that will be the total with the next budget. The U.S. commitment to global climate change initiatives and research and development is more than all of the developed nations, the rest of the developed world, combined. This is significant. The President is serious about it, but again he has his domestic interests, as does every nation, and we are looking to be aggressive, and we are looking to work with the world community. The targets that he set out are really very much in line with what the Kyoto targets would get us to, but it enables us to do it in a way that will help ensure our energy independence and security as well as our economy.

When you look at the impact our trade and our imports have on developing nations economies, it is important that we keep a strong economy as well. All those things are interrelated. We have never acted as an obstructionist to other countries -- ratification of Kyoto, if that is a document which they are comfortable with and fits their needs, is good. You have to look at the actions that we are taking. We are taking real actions. Our energy program alone last year reduced the equivalent of forty million metric tons of carbon, and that is a voluntary program that we are just now really ratcheting up. We are taking significant, measurable steps.

JOHN TURNER: I just want to briefly say that we welcome and congratulate China’s focus on air quality. We have met with officials of their government and their air quality is impacting on the productivity of their workers and it is impacting on the health of their country. More importantly, we have formed an agreement with China where the United States will be a partner in helping develop new technology.

QUESTION: I hear what you are saying about leadership here, but I think that people are also arguing that without Bush here, that other groups, other nations also have very high level negotiators and high level teams but still their heads of state have managed to get here, and we are talking about U.S. leadership on so many different things over the last few days, but we do not have the person that personifies that, that can stand up and talk to all the people that criticized one after the another, yesterday the U.S. on Kyoto and everything else where he was just obliterated all day yesterday. Does not that make sense that he should be here, if he is the world leader and he is arguing that the U.S. is a world leader?

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: I believe that is reflected in our actions and the resources that we are putting toward these initiatives, what we are actually doing to reinforce the worlds commitment on these various issues. That is where our leadership really shows itself and there is a great deal that we as leaders are doing in bringing together partners, whether we are talking about clean air, indoor, or outdoor, or talking about clean water. We are leaders and that is what is critical as we look at these initiatives, so his not being here is not an abdication of leadership. It is important how you fulfill these commitments, and we are moving forward in that sense.

QUESTION: You said that we are almost there, and I would just like that defined. There is this Canadian effort going or what can we expect there?

CHRISTINE WHITMAN: The Canadian proposal was (inaudible) -- the final rules and there are several references to human rights, the role of woman, children -- in several places in the document, language endorsed by all of us. The concern was about opening up agreed upon text that we finished up. South Africa is wants to review the final text and see if there are technical problems.

The minister, the plenary, have made a lot of effort to reach consensus. There have been a thousand items in this that we all had to discuss. It is a fine document reflecting collective consensus. It is still going to be a long journey, however.