AFRICA AND THE ENVIRONMENT 



TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1993 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

 Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Trade 

 and Environment, and Subcommittee on Africa, 



Washington, DC. 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:29 p.m., in room 

 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Sam Gejdenson (chair- 

 man of the Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Trade and Environ- 

 ment) presiding. 



Mr. Gejdenson. Please come to order. Our thinking on the envi- 

 ronment has come a long way in the last 10 years. Instead of being 

 expressed only as an interest in the preservation of exotic species, 

 concern for the environment these days is likely to take on a more 

 comprehensive and developmental focus. 



In fact, practically all of the major environmental organizations 

 are talking about the environment in terms of entire ecosystems 

 and in broad development goals. 



Why? The simple reason is that is the way it works. When envi- 

 ronmental plans take into account the role of people within 

 ecosystems, their need for sustenance and employment, and the 

 pressures on countries to earn hard currencies through exports, the 

 plans work. If we ignore these plans, we are confronted with fail- 

 ure. Plans that are in the best interest of the environment and of 

 the people who must live and work in that environment are plans 

 that have a chance of making a difference. Simply outlawing the 

 cutting of trees will never stop deforestation. Providing economic 

 incentives to keep trees intact will. Prohibiting wildlife in preserves 

 will not stop poachers. Fostering a tourist industry around one 

 might. 



Just as environmental preservation and development are inter- 

 twined, so are environment preservation and sustainable agri- 

 culture. So many issues in agriculture such as soil erosion, water 

 conservation, decertification, are at the heart of environmental con- 

 cerns. 



Environmentalists have been arguing for years that everything 

 in this world is interconnected. Nowhere is that more true than in 

 Africa where the economic development must mean increased agri- 

 cultural production, but it can also mean further environmental 

 degradation. That is the bad news. The good news is that if the 

 path to economic development can be found that is good for the en- 

 vironment, farmers will increase their crop yields, biodiversity will 

 be maintained for the source of genetic materials needed to make 



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