World Summit on Sustainable Development: Africa Process

Introduction

Your Excellencies, Ministers, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen...

It is with great pleasure that we have come to South Africa to meet with those who share concerns about the fate of the world’s ocean and coastal areas. Ocean issues are trans-boundary by nature, thus our shared concerns require collective action.

We join others in thanking President Mbeki of the Government of South Africa for inviting us to today’s meeting. Thank you, Mr. President. We also recognize the excellent work of all those who laid the foundation for this Partnership gathering — governments, international organizations and NGOs working together to address the opportunities presented by Africa’s oceans and coastal zones. The U.S. government strongly supports the activities that will strengthen the Nairobi and Abidjan Conventions and address global and coastal ocean issues.

The United States agrees with your governments about the importance of the five issue areas identified by the Partnership Conference for the Development and Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment in sub-Saharan Africa. As the world's population is increasingly clustered along our coasts, we must pay even more attention to the coastal environment. It is clear that sustainable development and poverty alleviation globally will depend to a large degree on how we pursue our stewardship of the world's oceans, coasts and fisheries, and how we invest in improving our understanding of them.

The five issue areas — management of key ecosystems and habitats, coastal erosion, pollution, sustainable use of living resources and sustainable tourism — are priorities in the United States and around the globe, as well. We are prepared to work with you to meet your goals in these areas as outlined in the Programme of Interventions.

We see three common concepts throughout the Programme of Interventions — management and governance, science and partnerships. Let me give you examples of specific projects supported by the United States that support these concepts. You will notice that these projects address specific needs that you have outlined. Others, necessarily meet more than one need, that is the nature of coastal and ocean challenges.

In the context of Management and Governance

During the past three decades, integrated coastal management, or ICM for short, has gained momentum as the preferred approach to deal with the complex and competing issues of sustainable development in coastal areas. It was also endorsed in Agenda 21 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ten years ago in Rio. ICM sets the decision-making process, human capacity building framework, and governance structure, under which scientific approaches and principles can reside.

the governance structure that responds to fast-changing societies and increasing demands on natural resources.
the structure that both protects and develops Africa’s marine and watershed resources in a sustainable manner.

Recent scientific advances demonstrate that a large-scale eco-regional approach is critical for biodiversity, habitat conservation and fisheries productivity. This approach depends upon cross-sectoral coordination to address issues across marine and watershed resources:

The United States has also just identified new funds worth $350,000 to provide technical assistance to the countries along the east coast of sub-Saharan Africa (i.e., Kenya, Tanzania, and Seychelles) to help promote management of coral reef ecosystems — a vital ecosystem in marine protected areas and for tourism as described in your proposal objectives. We also expect to continue training reef managers in the conduct of socio-economic studies — a vital component identified by the African Process.
This funding will complement an ongoing partnership among the Tanzanian Environmental Management Council, USAID and the University of Rhode Island to improve national coastal planning, policy and management in Tanzania. A similar project will also be expanded in Kenya.
The United States will continue to be directly involved in those interventions that draw on the Large Marine Ecosystem approach and emphasize integrated coastal management. The United States is committed to providing technical assistance to the Gulf of Guinea LME and the new Benguela LME. We also are prepared to consider funding U.S. technical assistance for the two new LME initiatives being considered in Agulhas and Somalia.

In the context of Science...

I am particularly happy to note that a number of the projects in the Program of Interventions relate to our ability to take the pulse of the planet and to apply environmental data and information to decision-making. This particular issue is a priority for me and for the United States. Effective management of coastal and marine resources requires an improved understanding of the linked systems of oceans and atmosphere. This in turn depends on good atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial observations.

The Geographic Information for Sustainable Development Project, launched by the United States during the Summit, targets several regions in Africa and makes satellite imagery and geographic information management tools available to these regions, as well as people around the world — to policy-makers, to users, to scientists. This information will help map watersheds, aid in coastal land and marine zoning, plan agricultural crop strategies, and trace urbanization and pollution trends. These efforts build upon the larger ICM governance process underway, providing useful information for better decision-making.
A companion program called “My Community, Our Earth: or MyCOE” is a partnership with the United Nations Environment Program, National Geographic, the Association of American Geographers, the 3M Corporation, Columbia University, ESRI and several African countries to promote geographic learning for sustainable development among secondary and university students world wide. This program, in particular, is an investment in the next generation of decision-makers responsible for the protection and development of ocean and coastal resources.

In the context of Partnerships...

Since 1975, the United States has committed itself to integrated coastal management for U.S. coastal areas, building partnerships among states, universities, local governments, individuals and the federal government. We have also reached out to other countries and other experiences to expand our knowledge base and broaden our expertise. It is this kind of partnership from which we all benefit.

If you haven’t already heard about it, I will briefly describe a U.S. initiative for the Summit — the White Water to Blue Water initiative — which is relevant to this process. White Water to Blue Water seeks to improve national capacities of coastal states to manage entire coastal-marine ecosystems. It promotes better regional and cross-border coordination between countries, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to make best use of available resources. Although this initiative will start in 2003 in the Caribbean, we want to explore the mutual benefit of sharing lessons and experiences with other regions of the world (especially Africa and the Pacific). In order to promote the sharing of expertise and experience as widely as possible, the United States offers to support several African representatives to attend the initial conference with a view towards future replication in Africa.
And, there is one other item before I close — a year ago the United States began placing Science Fellows in U.S. Embassies around the world to assist with specific scientific projects. I am happy to report that United States will place a scientist in Mozambique in 2003 to work on the range of oceans and coasts issues, including the management of key ecosystems and habits. These personal exchanges are among the most productive form of technical assistance, and I have great hopes for its success.

I hope that gives your Excellencies a sense of how the United States is fully prepared to join with you and others to meet your priority goals for oceans and coasts as outlined in the African Process.

We have reason to be optimistic about the opportunities we have through this Partnership Process to make a real difference in the protecting the marine and watershed resources of this great continent, while reducing poverty and improving the well being of your citizens.