[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 149 (Thursday, October 28, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S13390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         DRYLAND DEGRADATION AND ITS IMPACT ON TRADE RELATIONS

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, as the Senate considers the Africa 
Growth and Opportunity Act, I would like to draw my colleagues' 
attention to an important article from the President of the Corporate 
Council on Africa, Dr. Mima S. Nedelcovych, concerning Africa's problem 
of severe dryland degradation (known as ``desertification'') as it 
affects our trade relations.
  The Corporate Council on Africa, CCA, includes 180 members with 
substantial business interests in Africa, including such industry 
giants as General Electric, Ford Motor Company, IBM, Citibank, ConAgra, 
Cargill, AGCO, 3M, Pfizer, Land O'Lakes, Chevron, Texaco, Bristol-Myers 
Squibb, Eli Lilly, Raytheon and Rhone-Poulenc USA. Recently Dr. 
Nedelcovych, who also serves as Vice President for International 
Business Development for F.C. Schaffer & Associates, published a short 
article entitled ``Africa's Creeping Desert, A Problem for the U.S. 
Too,'' in the CCA's Perspectives on Africa (Fall 1999).
  In it, Dr. Nedelcovych outlines clearly the extent to which the 
degradation of Africa's agricultural land is undermining one of the 
continent's most crucial natural resources, impeding economic growth, 
and slowing the hoped-for shift from aid to trade. Cocoa, coffee, 
cotton, cola nuts and spices grown in Africa end up in a myriad of 
everyday processed products on American store shelves, but land on 
which they are produced is increasingly threatened by a combination of 
bad management practices, drought and poverty.
  As a boost to U.S. trade relations with Africa, Dr. Nedelcovych makes 
a strong case for full U.S. participation in the 1994 United Nations 
Convention to Combat Desertification, not just because it seeks to help 
Africa's agricultural sector grow and achieve food self-sufficiency, 
but because it will also open greater opportunities for U.S. sales to 
Africa, including seeds, agricultural machinery, irrigation equipment 
as well as a wide range of automobiles, pharmaceuticals, electronic 
equipment and other goods to more prosperous African consumers.
  Dr. Nedelcovych ends with an urgent plea for the Senate to ratify 
this important agreement without delay. With a world population now 
over 6 billion and fertile farmland shrinking at an alarming rate 
worldwide, I heartily support Senate action on the Convention to Combat 
Desertification.
  I ask unanimous consent that Dr. Nedelcovych's article be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       [Published by The Corporate Council on Africa, Fall 1999]

                         Perspectives on Africa


              a quarterly journal of dialogue and opinion

          Africa's Creeping Desert--A Problem for the U.S. Too

  (By Dr. Mima S. Nedelcovych, President, Corporate Council on Africa)

       We Americans are well known for our ingenuity and problem-
     solving abilities. All too often, however, we also are noted 
     for our inability to see crises in advance and deal with 
     problems when they are still easily manageable.
       One such issue is the world's desertification problem. In 
     Africa, more than two-thirds of the land is dry land, and 
     approximately 70 percent of the population lives on that 
     land. They also grow crops such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, 
     cola nuts and spices on that land. Moreover, rare and 
     endngered animals--a key to tourism in African countries--
     currently struggle to survive on that land. Without effective 
     land management policies in developing nations, the need for 
     foreign aid will rise at a time when available funds are 
     shrinking.
       The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has 
     been designed to deal with this problem in a cost-effective 
     way. The Convention does not call for the creation of a major 
     new center of bureaucracy at the UN, nor does it create a 
     mandated contribution by the United States. The onus is 
     placed on developing nations needing assistance to devise a 
     comprehensive national plan to effectively deal with 
     desertification. However, if the United States Senate doesn't 
     ratify this convention, the U.S. will be on the outside of 
     this process, which will directly endanger U.S. interests.
       The U.S. private sector has five concerns with how the 
     problem of desertification is handled. First, no issue is 
     more important than that of land use. The national plans 
     called for in the Convention will govern all land use--not 
     just agricultural land. Oil drilling, mining and 
     manufacturing operations, all will be affected by this 
     convention. If the United States fails to ratify this 
     Convention, we will have no voice in the development and 
     implementation of national land use plans.
       Second, the United States sells hundreds of millions of 
     dollars in irrigation and related equipment to Africa each 
     year, as well as seeds and agricultural equipment. Companies 
     and experts in nations that ratify the Convention will be 
     placed on a roster of service providers. While America 
     currently has a competitive advantage, that advantage will 
     soon disappear if U.S. firms and experts are not on the 
     convention-generated list. Our firms will then face the 
     prospect of losing contracts to countries such as Spain, 
     Portugal, Italy and Greece, who will provide technology based 
     on what we have developed earlier.
       Third, U.S. firms purchase millions of dollars of 
     agricultural goods each year from developing nations. 
     Products such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, cola nuts and spices 
     are grown on dry or sub-humid lands facing the impact of 
     desertification. Many consumers products we now use would 
     cost more if the problem of desertification is not dealt with 
     successfully. A morning cup of coffee surely would be more 
     expensive--so would the chocolates given on Valentine's Day. 
     The prices for items ranging from cooking oils or soft drinks 
     also would rise.
       Fourth, it is much cheaper to work with African nations to 
     implement effective land management plans than to send 
     millions to implement disjointed anti-desertification efforts 
     and hundreds of millions more to provide humanitarian 
     assistance to combat the effects of droughts and other 
     natural catastrophes caused by desertification after they 
     occur. Individual taxpayers and corporations certainly would 
     appreciate a more cost-effective approach to this problem.
       Finally, developing nations--particularly African nations--
     see this Convention as their major international initiative. 
     The Convention was developed with the assistance of the 
     United States Government. To date, all but Australia and the 
     United States have ratified this Convention. U.S. failure to 
     ratify this Convention will leave the United States 
     Government, U.S. corporations and American experts out of the 
     anti-desertification process. Moreover, it will poison our 
     relations with African and other developing nations who 
     believe non-ratification is a lack of support of their 
     efforts to both deal with their problem and join global 
     markets.
       It is critical that the U.S. business community let the 
     U.S. Senate know the importance we place on the ratification 
     of the Convention to Combat Desertification. Potentially 
     billions of dollars--and more importantly, millions of 
     lives--depend on what the Senate does about this issue in the 
     next few weeks.

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