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process of long-term development through economic growth that is equitable, participatory, 

 envirorunentally sustainable, and self-reliant." It further emphasized our responsibility to 

 support efforts aimed at "maintaining and restoring the renewable natural resource base ...." 



Since 1987 the Africa Bureau has been implementing its environmental programs 

 through our Plan for Natural Resources Management. This plan focuses our efforts in three 

 key areas: tropical forestry, sustainable agriculture, and biodiversity. We firmly believe that 

 the way to maximize our impact is by focusing scarce resources on a limited range of issues. 

 These are also areas where we believe that we have a comparative advantage among the 

 donoi agencies. 



At the same time, we also support broad strategic processes that help Africans 

 identify and address a wide range of environmental problems, including problems not directly 

 supported by US AID'S limited funding, such as air and water quality, or industrial and 

 petroleum-related pollution. In Uganda, for example, USAID provided funds for the NEAP 

 process. USAID then funded portions of the NEAP related to biodiversity, while other 

 donors funded elements of the plan such as urban and industrial pollution which are not part 

 of our focused strategy. 



There are two points that I would like to stress in particular with regard to our 

 environmental efforts. First, like physicians, we take very seriously the injunction to do no 

 harm. Since the 1970s USAID has been the lead development agency worldwide in 

 incorporating environmental procedures into everything we fund. We are required under 

 Agency environmental procedures, 22CFR Part 216 (commonly referred to as "Regulation 

 216") to review every project designed within the Agency for potential environmental 



