Congo Basin Forest Partnership and the Tropical Forest Conservation Act

If well managed, forests can provide nations and their citizens with economic prosperity, social benefits, and irreplaceable environmental treasures for generations to come. That is the challenge to all of us and the challenge we have all agreed to take on in key areas of Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

First, let me first say a few words about the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. It is a remarkable achievement -- the first time that nearly 30 governments, international organizations, environmental and business interests have joined to meet our shared goal of protecting and sustainably managing this tropical resource. Through this partnership, we hope to provide the people of the region with sustainable means of livelihood, stronger institutions, improved resource governance, and national networks of parks and protected areas that will preserve vital ecological resources while promoting economic development. The Congo Basin contains a quarter of the world’s tropical forest and is a region of extraordinary biological richness. But the forests of the Congo Basin are being degraded at the rate of two million acres every year. As Secretary Powell said in Johannesburg at the launch of the partnership, "We must do something to preserve this global treasure."

On behalf of Secretary Powell and the U.S. Government, I extend our thanks to the government and people of the six Congo Basin countries for making this partnership possible: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. I also want to thank our other governmental partners, our intergovernmental partners, and our non-government and other international partners. They are too numerous to list -- there are 29 altogether -- but I want to offer our gratitude to them all.

The U.S. Government is delighted to co-work with South Africa, the host for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, for the first year of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. We look forward to a year of active implementation aimed at moving us all from political commitment to action on the ground.

If we can make this partnership work, it will be the greatest public-private achievement for forests and, indeed, for natural resource management ever. I would note also that President Bush has asked Secretary Powell to develop an initiative to help interested developing countries to combat illegal logging. We are working with our U.S. agency partners to put this initiative together. This February, following the President’s trip to Africa, we will cosponsor with France, the U.K., and the World Bank a Ministerial Conference on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in Africa. This conference will build on the success of the Asia Ministerial Conference held in Bali a year ago (which involved many of you) and will hopefully make a constructive contribution to the Congo Basin Forest Partnership.

Another remarkable partnership we are celebrating today is the implementation of the Tropical Forest Conservation Act. The United States has led the world in putting in place innovative debt reduction mechanisms designed to relieve a country’s debt while at the same time generating funds to support environmental and social activities. In 1991, former President Bush established the "Enterprise for the Americas Initiative" to relieve the debt burden of our Latin American partners who moved to open investment regimes. In exchange, funds were made available to support activities benefiting the environment and the survival of children in those countries.

The idea was simple, and it worked. In 10 years, the Initiative has canceled $1 billion in debt owed to the U.S. under agreements with eight Latin American countries. These agreements are generating $160 million for in-country support of child survival and environmental programs.

The Tropical Forest Conservation Act builds on that success. Thanks to Congressman Portman, Senators Lugar, Biden, and Leahy, the late Senator John Chafee, and former Congressmen Kasich and Hamilton, the United States can now offer eligible developing countries debt treatment opportunities which generate revenue to support local tropical forest conservation activities.

In the last 2 years, we have concluded agreements with five partner countries: Bangladesh, Belize, El Salvador, Peru, and the Philippines. These five agreements will reduce roughly $54 million in debt and generate $42 million for forest conservation activities. The agreements with Belize and Peru are also special because they include private funds raised by The Nature Conservancy and, in the case of Peru, by the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International as well. These are tremendous examples of public-private partnerships.

I am extremely pleased to have with us today the Ambassadors of a number of our country partners in the Congo Basin Forest Partnership and in the Tropical Forest Conservation Act – as well as a number of executives of international organizations concerned with forests. I warmly welcome these Distinguished Guests and ask them -- and all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen -- to join me in a toast to our shared goals and joint work to conserve tropical forests for the well being of people, today and tomorrow. Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. I salute you.