[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 14 (Friday, February 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          H.R. 2264 CONGO BASIN FOREST PARTNERSHIP ACT OF 2003

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                          HON. JOHN S. TANNER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, February 6, 2004

  Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2264, the 
Congo Basin Forest Partnership Act of 2003, that the House passed on 
October 7, 2003. As I said in my statement on that day, I have 
personally visited some of the areas that this bill will help to 
protect, and I highly recommend it to the House and hope that we adopt 
it again today with the other body's changes.
  The International Conservation Caucus, of which I am a founding 
member and cochair, was formed in order to build support for the Congo 
Basin Forest Partnership initiative and to help with other 
international conservation efforts around the world. As members, we 
share a conviction that the United States has the opportunity and the 
obligation to advance the protection of the worldwide environment for 
current and future generations. The mission of the caucus is to act on 
this conviction by providing the strong U.S. leadership necessary to 
conserve the world's most biologically rich and diverse places. The 
Congo Basin Forest Partnership Act is one of the first steps in 
achieving our mission.
  Our contribution under the act will focus on providing field-based 
conservation activities within 25 million acres in Cameroon, the 
Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, 
and Sao Tome/Principe. It is estimated that forest areas in the Congo 
basin are being depleted at a rate twice the size of Rhode Island every 
year.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 2264, the 
Congo Basin Forest Partnership Act.

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