Press Release

World Environment Day
By U.S. Ambassador Emil Skodon
June 4, 2007

World Environment Day on 5 June is an appropriate time to reflect on what the United States is doing every day with our partners around the world to protect the global environment.  The United States continues to lead efforts on many important international environmental issues – such as clean energy, natural resource conservation, climate change, air and water pollution, ocean protection, fisheries conservation, and infectious disease prevention.

For example, last year to protect and sustain the oceans around us, President Bush established the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as an area for special protection and management.  This area – the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument – became the largest single conservation area in the history of the United States, and the largest protected marine area in the world.  It is home to 4,500 square miles of coral reef habitat – the largest remote reef system in the world.  The reefs and surrounding tropical waters are home to more than 7,000 marine species.

To protect wildlife, the United States established the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking, a voluntary public-private coalition of likeminded governments and organizations that aims to focus public and political attention on ending the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.  This global coalition, made up of 18 partners from governments, international organizations and conservation groups, has improved wildlife law enforcement, reduced consumer demand for illegally traded wildlife, and catalyzed high-level political will to fight wildlife trafficking.  

To preserve forests, the United States has partnered with, supported, and funded initiatives in Indonesia, Liberia, and the Congo Basin, among other areas, to combat illegal logging and implement important forest reforms that will sustain forests, generate employment, and alleviate poverty.

To address the problem of greenhouse gas in our own country, the United States has implemented a diverse portfolio of policy measures, including dozens of mandatory, incentive-based, and voluntary programs.  From 2000-2004, the U.S. population grew by 11.5 million and GDP grew 9.6 percent, but our greenhouse gas emissions increased by only 1.3 percent, among the best record among developed nations.

President Bush has also set a goal to reduce gasoline usage in the U.S. by 20 percent over the next decade.  Through incentives, more stringent fuel economy standards, research on alternative fuels like biodiesel and ethanol, and $12 billion invested to develop cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable energy sources, the United States could cut annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 10 percent, or around 175 million metric tons, by 2017.  This would be like taking 26 million automobiles off the road today. 

A collaborative approach is the best path to combat climate change internationally.  The United States helped to establish the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) to engage the governments and private sectors in six key nations – Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States.  These nations account for about half of the world’s economy, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions.  APP partners are enhancing deployment of clean energy technologies to address their energy, clean development, and climate goals. One such deployment involves leveraging a $500,000 U.S. government grant into $120 million of investment to build the world’s largest coal mine methane power facility in China – which, when completed, will avoid the equivalent emissions of one million cars annually.

These are a few examples that highlight what the United States is doing to preserve the Earth and its resources for future generations.  As we confront these challenges we recognize that we cannot achieve our environmental goals alone.  That is why over the last six years the U.S. has embarked on a path toward a collaborative, results-oriented model to mobilize concrete actions to provide basic services to people and encourage economic growth, social development, and environmental stewardship that better protects and sustains the Earth’s valuable natural resources.

Our sustainable development partnerships have leveraged the expertise, innovation, and financing provided by the private sector, non-profit, academic, and international interests to supply over 19 million people with increased access to energy, provide 19 million people with better access to safe drinking water, bring 26 million people improved sanitation, and eliminate harmful leaded gasoline in sub-Saharan Africa for 733 million people, among other accomplishments.

Here in Brunei, the U.S. Government is proud to support the Heart of Borneo, the initiative of Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia to link together national parks and adjacent lands into a 220,000 square kilometer protected rainforest area.  Through grants pledged last year by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice totaling $100,000, the United States is supporting work by the World Wildlife Fund and the International Tropical Timber Organization to help Brunei and its neighbors to work together to ensure that the unequaled natural resources of Borneo are wisely used and protected for the benefit of future generations.

The United States will continue to move beyond words on paper toward implementation and real results by launching partnerships like the ones mentioned here that advance economic growth, promote social development, and protect the environment worldwide.

On World Environment Day I ask you to consider what you might do, by, as the expression goes, “thinking globally and acting locally” to help ensure our children and grandchildren live in a world where the skies are clear, the forests are healthy, and the rivers are clean. 

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