[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ACT OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN R. KASICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 15, 1998

  Mr. KASICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2870, the 
Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998. First, let me commend the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) for his leadership on this bill. 
Because of the diligent efforts of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Portman), the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton), and the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Gilman), we have a good bill to solve the problem of 
rainforest depletion at its source.
  The preservation of tropical forests is essential for countries all 
over the world. Tropical forests provide a habitat for a diversity of 
plants used for life-saving medicines and the treatment of disease. 
Tropical forests also help to stabilize global rainfall, vital to the 
health of agricultural crops and coastal communities. This bill 
provides an economic incentive to stop the rapid deforestation and 
degradation of this important ecosystem.
  Most tropical forests are located in developing countries. Burdened 
by debt and desperate for capital, many developing countries have 
sacrificed tropical forests to logging or agricultural development. 
Some of the countries where rainforests are located owe millions of 
dollars to the United States which are unlikely to be repaid. This bill 
establishes a system to rechannel developing nations' financial 
resources to tropical forest preservation and provide relief from 
crippling debts.
  This bill expands the Bush administration's Enterprise for the 
Americas Initiative (EAI) which established debt-for-nature swaps with 
Latin American countries. H.R. 2870 offers debt relief to countries 
with important resources beyond the Americas. Through debt-for-nature 
swaps, the United States would forgive or restructure debt for 
qualifying developing countries with threatened tropical forests. In 
exchange, countries would make payments to an independently 
administered fund used to conserve and restore tropical forests. This 
bill also permits a debt buyback mechanism to allow third parties to 
purchase debt for a beneficiary country or permit the debtor country to 
repurchase its debt at a fair market value. Furthermore, this bill is 
fiscally sound. Any funds spent as a result of this bill are fully 
offset in the appropriations process.
  Again, I would like to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) 
for his hard work in bringing this to fruition. In conclusion, this is 
a creative and pragmatic solution to benefit tropical forest 
conservation as well as the economic prosperity of developing nations. 
I ask my colleagues to support this bill.

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