AFRICA'S ECOLOGICAL FUTURE: NATURAL 

 BALANCE OR ENVIRONMENTAL DISRUPTION 



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1995 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on International Relations, 



Subcommittee on Africa, 



Washington, DC. 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m. in room 2255, 

 Raybum House Office Building, Hon. Ileana A. Ros-Lehtinen (chair 

 of the subcommittee) presiding. 



Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. The siibcommittee will now come to order. 

 Thanks to all of you for being here with us this morning. I am 

 joined by Vic Frazer from the Virgin Islands and I am sure that 

 some members will be straggling along. There are all kinds of 

 meetings and markups going on today, as well as the session that 

 is already under way. 



When I was first elected chair of this subcommittee, one of the 

 many issues that I felt needed to be brought to the forefi-ont were 

 those related to the state of Africa's ecology. As a Floridian, envi- 

 ronmental issues have always been of great concern to me, as the 

 State must deal with the question of how to protect our coral reefs, 

 how to safeguard the Everglades, and keep such integral parts of 

 our natural nistory as the manatee and the Florida deer from ex- 

 tinction. 



Globally, we are faced with an even more critical situation. The 

 United States is increasingly concerned about the dangers of global 

 climate warming, deforestation, and the destruction of wildlife, not 

 only as it affects the ecological well-being of the United States, but 

 also how it manifests itself in other regions of the world. 



Other issues which U.S. policjnmakers are focusing on are the en- 

 vironmental causes of famine, and the recognition that the eco- 

 nomic development needs of developing countries may be under- 

 mined by the degradation of their environment. 



These issues know no boundaries. The countries of the world are 

 now part of a truly global community with the economies and the 

 people becoming increasingly interdependent. In this international 

 family of nations, the ecological degradation of one habitat, in turn, 

 affects the world's ecological balance. 



As a result, while the United States undertakes initiatives to re- 

 solve its own environmental hazards, it must also look to develop- 

 ments in other regions to prevent a further escalation of these 

 problems. 



One region which plays a key role in discussions about the future 

 of the global environment and where the natural as well as human 



(1) 



