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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks of J. Brian Atwood
May 18, 1998
Central American Environment Ministers Washington, D.C.
Esteemed Environment Ministers, friends and colleagues from Central America, it is a pleasure for me to help introduce this important conference on climate change, and to further our partnerships as articulated under CONCAUSA.It is not very often that I get to "preach to the converted"--and talk to a knowledgeable and intelligent audience about the challenges and opportunities presented by the specter of climate change --or, if the recent El Nino events are any indication of our future in a warmer world --global climate disruption.
When the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) began planning our Climate Change Initiative for Developing Countries, announced by President Clinton almost a year ago, it was obvious to us that Central America should be one of the initiative's priority regions. Whereas other key climate change countries and regions supported under this initiative are major emitters of the greenhouse gases altering our climate, Central America is a leader in bringing countries together to reduce greenhouse gases and improve sustainable development.
The countries of Central America are unlike most countries in the world in demonstrating the benefits of unified action to face cross-border environmental threats. As embodied in the CONCAUSA declaration, the nations of Central America recognize the critical role of protecting your shared environments to ensure sustainable development. CONCAUSA efforts, led by yourselves, local non-governmental organizations, and of course, the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD), are one of the world's best examples of regional environmental cooperation and success.
For example, through the Meso-American Biological Corridor, you are teaching the world how to take a collaborative, multi-lateral approach to conserve and sustainably use intact natural habitats. USAID is proud to be a primary donor and partner in your efforts to maintain that corridor of forest, coastal habitats, and their connecting buffer zones which runs from the Peten of Guatemala to the Darien of Panama. This corridor contains the two biggest carbon sinks north of the Amazon --the Mayan forest of Guatemala, Belize (and Mexico) and the Mosquitia of Honduras and Nicaragua, and harbors globally important biodiversity.
No countries gain more economic benefits from intact environments, rain forests, and coral reefs than Central America. For example, over two-thirds of Central America's generated power comes from hydroelectric sources. Hydro power, as you know so well, are dependent on intact watersheds. These watersheds, except in drought years or certain El Nino years, provide the water to run through the hydroelectric dams while holding back the soil that can quickly silt up a reservoir and prevent electricity generation.
These watersheds, as our colleagues from Panama can readily attest, provide water for canals as well as dams. That is why USAID's bilateral program in Panama is focused exclusively on conserving the Panama Canal Watershed due to critical links there between environmental management and sustainable development.
And, because of their potential for carbon sequestration, these watersheds have also provided, and will continue to provide, economic benefits through carbon offset programs, such as the Clean Development Mechanism.
In addition, Central America has done a remarkable job in recognizing that addressing climate change encourages needed private sector investments for sustainable development.
Perhaps because of this, it is no exaggeration to say that no other countries have taken such outstanding and positive leadership role to promote fair and effective global action to address the causes and threats of climate change.
Central America hosts more climate mitigation projects than any other region in the world. In response to CONCAUSA, all the countries of Central America now have regulatory frameworks in place permitting efficient private-sector power generation, and the enforcement of energy efficiency standards. In addition, almost all Central American countries have or are developing national offices to facilitate the North-to-South flow of investments to reduce, absorb, or prevent greenhouse gas emissions. USAID is proud to be helping to support the development of these national offices in Guatemala and El Salvador.
And perhaps most importantly for our discussions over these two days, without the leadership of Central America, and especially Costa Rica, the concept of the Clean Development Mechanism might NOT be alive today and would NOT be a vehicle to support clean, climate friendly development in your countries tomorrow.
Let me conclude by relating a geology lesson that the scientists from my staff recently shared with me. The continents of North and South America were isolated islands until five to six million years ago, when the Central American land bridge rose, connecting them.
At this point, animals and plants that had never shared the same landscape crossed the bridge, with one of the results being the extraordinary biological diversity found today in your region. In case your curious, the United States got possums and armadillos from this exchange.Now, millions of years later, Central America is again playing a historic role --serving to bridge the gap that is separating North from South in addressing the challenge of climate change. Your nations recognize that climate change has to be on today's development agenda --along with poverty alleviation, democracy building, primary education, and women's health --if we are to carry today's development gains into the future. This vision needs to be shared with other countries. Some of your countries are already experiencing the problems associated with climate disruption --droughts that affect electricity production in Honduras, reduce agricultural output in Nicaragua, or bleached corals in the reefs of Belize --and are worried that this may be a sneak preview of life in a warmer world.
These climate related impacts need to be shared with other parties of the Kyoto protocol to underscore the need to take action now, not sometime in the distant future.And of course, over these two days, the U.S. Government hopes to help strengthen your ability to serve as a bridge to those who, as yet, do not share your understanding of the valuable role the private sector may play in addressing climate change.
We hope to continue to work together to formulate the details of how the Clean Development Mechanism will work so our nations, in the spirit of CONCAUSA, can work in unison to promote this joint vision up to and through the next Climate Convention Conference of Parties in Buenos Aires this November --only six months away.
And perhaps most importantly, the developed nations depend in large part on the leadership and diplomacy of your nations to share the best ideas, biggest concerns, and largest constraints that the developing nations have as we address together the global specter of climate change.
Part of strengthening the bridge between developed and developing countries is providing forums like this one to allow for the constructive dialogue essential to stimulate ground-breaking ideas --so the result of the bridge is as magnificent and productive as Central America's biodiversity, and isn't merely armadillos and possums.Although I will not be able to stay for the remainder of the Conference, I leave some of my able USAID staff, Mark Schneider, the Assistant Administrator of the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau, William Stacy Rhodes, our Mission director for Central American programs, and David Hales, the director of our Global Bureau, Environment Center.
They will exchange ideas and learn from you as part of this productive dialogue. Thank you very much and enjoy your stay in Washington.This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001 |
