Need for Green Diplomacy in U.S. Foreign Policy
3/14/97
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Headline: Need for Green Diplomacy in U.S. Foreign Policy
Source: The Washington Post
Date: 3/14/97
Copyright 1997: The Washington Post Company
Green Diplomacy
SECRETARY OF STATE Warren Christopher, especially toward
the end of his tenure, emphasized the importance of
environmental issues as a component of U.S. foreign
policy. His spiel didn't get a lot of attention, partly
because there's always a conflict or a peace negotiation
that seems more pressing. His successor, Madeleine
Albright, so far hasn't stressed the theme, but it's early
in her tenure. Mr. Christopher was right in saying that
global environmental degradation is a threat to
this country's security and that efforts to fight the
threat should be integrated into U.S. aid and foreign
policy.
This year two interrelated environmental issues are at the
top of the U.S. agenda. One is the threat of global
warming and the efforts around the world to set limits on
the greenhouse-gas emissions thaat help cause it. The
other I deforestation, which contributes not only to
global warming but also to soil erosion and the loss of
farmland, the spread of deserts and the extinction of
plant and animal species.
A recent study by the World Resources Institute found that
about half the world's original forest cover is gone. This
is a classic case where you can look at the earth as half-
empty or half-full; the fact that much forest remains
means there's still opportunity for sensible conservation.
But the WRI study also found that forests are disappearing
at an accelerating rate and that only about one-fifth of
the world's original forests remain in relatively
undisturbed tracts large enough to be considered intact
ecosystems. Seventy percent of that remaining "frontier
forest" lies in three countries -- Russia, Canada and
Brazil -- and much of it (including Alaska's own
Tongas National Forest) is threatened by shortsighted
logging and other dangers. The situation is "very urgent,"
says Eileen B. Claussen, assistant secretary of state for
environmental affairs.
Ms. Claussen wants to move diplomacy beyond the futile
debate of recent years over an "international forest
convention" and concentrate on a few key areas where
progress is possible. These include persuading all
governments to report, publicly and by agreed-upon rules,
on the status of their forests and logging efforts;
helping train rangers and develop forest-management
capacity in countries too weak or poor to stand up to
illegal or unsustainable logging; developing a private-
sector code of conduct; and extending protection to
key forest areas.
The effort in some cases calls for tough diplomacy -- to
penalize the Cambodians and Thais, for example, who
continue to strip Cambodia's tropical forests. But in many
cases, it's a question of working with countries that want
to save themselves.