16 



cles was to meet a brick wall of skepticism or boredom. To make 

 matters worse, there are those who even believe that what Africa 

 really needs in order to give it an economic boost is, in fact, more 

 pollution." 



In a January 1992 internal memo to World Bank chiefs, econo- 

 mist Lawrence Summers wrote, "I've always felt that the under- 

 populated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted. Just be- 

 tween you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more 

 migration of dirty industries to the LDC," the lesser developed 

 countries? It is within this mix that we dwell when we consider Af- 

 rica's environmental future. 



Fortunately, some of this mentality appears to be changing. In 

 April of this year, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, in a 

 speech at Stanford University, announced his intention to place en- 

 vironmental issues in the mainstream of American foreign policy. 

 He said that environmental forces transcend borders and oceans to 

 threaten directly the health, prosperity and jobs of American citi- 

 zens. He noted that addressing natural resource issues is fre- 

 quently critical to achieving political and economic stability and 

 pursuing our strategic goals around the world. 



The Sierra Club commends Secretary Christopher for announcing 

 these new environmental initiatives and we look forward to assist- 

 ing in their implementation. We will urge, however, that the State 

 Department's new initiatives extend additionally to individual citi- 

 zens in their right to protect the environment, their right to clean 

 water, their right to clean air. This is because the Sierra Club be- 

 lieves that environmental rights are directly linked to human 

 rights. That everyone has a right to a clean and healthy environ- 

 ment. 



We believe that no country can feign environmental awareness 

 when its citizens are forbidden to speak freely; when they are for- 

 bidden to assemble; or when they are persecuted and, as I will 

 later discuss, in some instances executed for protecting the environ- 

 ment. When environmentalists like Chico Mendes of Brazil are 

 murdered; or like Wangari Maathai of Kenya are harassed and 

 beaten; or like Ken Saro-Wiwa of Nigeria are hanged because of 

 their political environmental activism. The relationship between 

 human rights and the environment becomes all too clear. 



Madam Chairman, I am certain that this subcommittee has been 

 following the recent events in Nigeria. I am sure this subcommit- 

 tee's members, like the rest of us, were shocked by the November 

 execution of playwright/environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa. So I am 

 sure that most of the information I am about to discuss will not 

 come as news to you. 



I will tell you that it has been a most enlightening period for 

 members of the Sierra Club; that we have been active on inter- 

 national environmental issues for nearly 30 years now, domesti- 

 cally, as you know, for over 100. Our international work is mostly 

 on development bank lending and international trade issues. Never 

 has an international environmental issue so captivated our mem- 

 bers. 



I suppose it is because the members of the Sierra Club across 

 America could so readily identify with the struggle of one of Nige- 



