21 



Ms. McMeekin. I think you can find employees in contradiction 

 activities quite easily. 



Mr. Gejdenson. But not 



Ms. Vedder. It is more difficult to find people at other levels. 

 Most of my work has been in Central Africa, and there, we have 

 a stronger lack of higher-level trained personnel. The layer of 

 trained people is extremely thin. And as soon as one goes out of 

 the system, you have a significant void. 



Mr. Nsanjama. That is right. We at the region, we agree with — 

 we at the region could — the possibility, especially training, of peo- 

 ple who might be resourceful is only one of the areas, at least for 

 the next 5 years, that is a well-defined base. There is quite a need 

 for that. 



Ms. McMeekin. Mr. Chairman, if I could just say one thing. I 

 think Henri Nsanjama is the ideal person to answer your question 

 about this availability of training, manpower and womanpower. I 

 am sure, and perhaps I am pressing our friendship a bit, but I am 

 sure that during the course of Henri's professional development 

 and education, there must have been a large number of people who 

 questioned his wisdom in going into a soft field like wildlife and 

 natural resource conservation, when the same energy could have 

 gotten him an education that would provide for another job where 

 he did not have to work and he could take advantage of all of the 

 prestige. Is that correct, Henri? 



Mr. Nsanjama. Right. 



Ms. McMeekin. Not everyone is as dedicated as he. So, we do 

 find a man power shortage. 



Mr. Gejdenson. Most assured. We look at Africa and worry 

 about the shortages. But within the minds of children, we are try- 

 ing to develop some sensitivity to the environment. Having this cor- 

 ridor that any people that have access to lakes and streams and 

 trails — and frankly, we do not have a lot of that talent in our orga- 

 nization. We have to deal with the organization in the state of Con- 

 necticut that is equivalent to provide support for area's corridor. 

 We are dealing with people whose early industrial development, 

 water uses, etc. that most of us are ignorant on. 



So, I think, you know, when you look at Africa as a challenge I 

 think we should try ecotourism or anything else in virtually any 

 place in this country. You are at the same time challenged by local 

 groups that are designed to deal with these issues, even in a very 

 outgoing country, because there are so many evolutions along the 

 way. This kind of waking up to this is in the United States as well. 



I want to commend all of you. I hope that at some point, the com- 

 mittee can take a look at some of the things that you are doing, 

 and maybe even help facilitate some dialogue to propose specific 

 ideas among the Federal agencies. Even if you do not take the 

 same roads, at least know where everybody is going. 



Thank you, very much. 



Ms. McMeekin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Gejdenson. The meeting is adjourned. 



[Whereupon, at 3:04 p.m., the subcommittees were adjourned.] 



