2006 Archives
Remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon H.E. Niels Marquardt
World Wetlands Day Seminar
Yaounde, February 2, 2006
Officials from the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection
Leaders from the Environmental NGOs
Colleagues from the Media
All Students, particularly the Club des Sciences de la Terre from Yaounde I
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you all for coming to the US Embassy today to celebrate World Wetlands Day and to discuss how wetlands can be used as a tool in poverty alleviation. World Wetlands Day is commemorated annually on February 02, to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on the protection of wetlands in 1971.
Today’s seminar is a wonderful opportunity for the many groups that are working in the domain of environmental protection and conservation in Cameroon, to meet and discuss the specific areas that they are working in. It is also a chance for students and the media to better understand the environmental issues that confront Cameroon. Journalists have a very important role to play in informing the Cameroonian public about the environmental issues facing the country. Only through collaboration and the sharing of information can all of the environmental groups represented here today realize their respective goals and objectives.
I am very proud of the role that the US Government plays in supporting environmental programs and organizations here in Cameroon. World Wetlands Day 2006 is an opportunity to highlight the commitment of the USG to conservation and sustainable development in Central Africa in general and Cameroon in particular. Most of the NGOs here today have received funding or support from the USG.
Since September 4, 2002, as a result of an accord signed in Johannesburg during the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the United States along with other international partners, have engaged in the promotion of economic development, poverty alleviation, improved governance, and natural resource conservation in the Congo Basin.
CARPE – The Central African Regional Program for Environment – which is organized under the auspices of the USAID, is the umbrella for many USG activities and is supporting the Congo Basin Forest Partnership established in Johannesburg.
Cameroon is home to two protected forests under the Congo Basin Forest Partnership – the Dja-Minkebe-Odzala and the Sangha Tri-National Forest Landscapes. The US Government is supporting conservation activities in these landscapes in addition to nine other priority landscapes in the Congo Basin.
The USG is also funding environmental NGOs to implement conservation activities in nine central African countries in addition to Cameroon.
US Government agencies as well as American NGOs such as World Wild Fund for Nature and the World Resources Institute are working in the field to achieve and promote sustainable natural resource management practices.
I would like to cite an example from my country, which highlights the importance of wetlands and why they are so deserving of our care and protection. During the 1990s, the coastline of the State of Louisiana, along the Gulf of Mexico was losing 35 sq. miles of wetlands each year to development. (That’s over 9,000 square hectares). Last year Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana coast, and the city of New Orleans, because there was little buffer – wetlands – between the Gulf of Mexico and the city of New Orleans. Manmade protection, such as dikes and levies proved to be no match for the power of Hurricane Katrina. Now the US Government is developing plans to not only rebuild the devastated city of New Orleans, but also to rebuild the devastated wetlands of the coast of Louisiana.
President Bush has long recognized the need to preserve wetlands and is leading the US Government in this effort. When announcing a recent federal program to restore wetlands in the State of Maine, President Bush said, “Wetlands have been called the nurseries of life, and their well being is vital to the health of our country. For the sake of future generations, for the sake of understanding, for the sake of our wildlife, it is crucial that community and corporate partners, the federal government, and citizen volunteers come together to restore our wetlands and to improve the quality of the environment.”
So again, let me thank you for participating in today’s important event. I hope that you learn a lot while you are here and also discover, as President Bush said, that there is a role for everyone to play in protecting Cameroon’s wetlands and environment. Only by working together as governments, NGOs, journalists, students and individuals, can we ever accomplish such a large task as protecting our environment.
Thank you.