[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2264 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.2264
One Hundred Eighth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four
An Act
To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2004 to carry out the Congo
Basin Forest Partnership program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Congo Basin Forest Partnership Act
of 2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The tropical forests of the Congo Basin, located in the
Central African countries of Cameroon, the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Sao Tome/
Principe, are second in size only to the tropical forests of the
Amazon Basin.
(2) These forests are a crucial economic resource for the
people of the Central African region.
(3) Congo Basin forests play a critical role in sustaining the
environment--absorbing carbon dioxide, cleansing water, and
retaining soil.
(4) Congo Basin forests contain the most diverse grouping of
plants and animals in Africa, including rare and endangered
species, such as the lowland gorilla, mountain gorilla, chimpanzee,
and okapi. These plants and animals are invaluable for many
reasons, including their genetic and biochemical information, which
could spark advances in medical, agricultural, and industrial
technology.
(5) Logging operations, driven by a growing global demand for
tropical hardwoods, are shrinking these forests. One estimate has
logging taking out Congo Basin forest area at a rate of twice the
size of the State of Rhode Island every year.
(6) The construction of logging roads and other developments
are putting intense hunting pressure on wildlife. At current
hunting levels, most species of apes and other primates, large
antelope, and elephants will disappear from the Congo Basin, with
some becoming extinct.
(7) If current deforestation and wildlife depletion rates are
not reversed, the six countries of the Congo Basin most
immediately, but also the world, will pay an immense economic,
environmental, and cultural price.
(8) The United States has an interest in seeing political
stability and economic development advance in the Congo Basin
countries. This interest will be adversely impacted if current
deforestation and wildlife depletion rates are not reversed.
(9) Poorly managed and nonmanaged logging and hunting threatens
to do to the Congo Basin what it did to West Africa, which lost
much of its forest and wildlife through over-exploitation.
(10) Purged of wildlife, some Congo Basin forests already are
``empty forests''.
(11) In an attempt to conserve the forests of the Congo Basin,
the region's governments convened the Yaounde (Cameroon) Forest
Summit in March 1999.
(12) In September 2002, Secretary of State Colin Powell
launched the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) in Johannesburg,
South Africa. The CBFP promotes the conservation and sustainable
use of the region's forests, for example, by working to combat
poaching, illegal logging, and other unsustainable practices, and
giving local populations an economic stake in the preservation of
the forests, including through the development of ecotourism.
(13)(A) The United States contribution to the CBFP will focus
on conserving 11 key landscapes in 6 countries--Cameroon, the
Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo--identified at
the Yaounde Forest Summit as being of the greatest biological
importance to the region.
(B) The United States will fund field-based activities within
these 25,000,000 acres that aim to support a network of 27 national
parks and protected areas and well-managed forestry concessions.
(C) In this way, the work will build on existing United States
efforts, including those of the Central African Regional Program
for the Environment (CARPE) of the United States Agency for
International Development, which will implement the CBFP.
(14) The CBFP has broad international financial support,
including from non-African governments, the European Commission,
the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and
numerous nongovernment organizations.
(15) A dramatic step toward conserving Congo Basin forests has
recently been taken by Gabon. In September 2002, President Omar
Bongo announced the creation of 13 national parks, representing
over 10 percent of Gabon's surface area. Previously, Gabon had no
national park system.
(16) With the CBFP and other initiatives, there exists
unprecedented momentum for the conservation of Congo Basin forests.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the
President to carry out the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP)
program $18,600,000 for fiscal year 2004.
(b) CARPE.--Of the amounts appropriated pursuant to the
authorization of appropriations in subsection (a), $16,000,000 is
authorized to be made available to the Central Africa Regional Program
for the Environment (CARPE) of the United States Agency for
International Development.
(c) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the
authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) are authorized to
remain available until expended.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.