[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E98]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT

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                            HON. JIM SAXTON

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 12, 2007

  Mr. SAXTON. Madam Speaker, since coming to Congress in 1984, I have 
consistently supported efforts to protect and conserve many wildlife 
species. I am an enthusiastic defender of the Endangered Species Act 
and have voted in favor of the African Elephant Conservation Act of 
1988, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, the 
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 2000, the Great Ape 
Conservation Act of 2000 and the Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 
2004.
  In fact, several of these laws were reauthorized or initially enacted 
during my 6-year tenure as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Fisheries 
Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans. During this period, I conducted 
numerous oversight hearings on these conservation programs and I became 
intimately aware of the plight of Asian elephants. Frankly, I was 
startled to learn that in the early 1990s there were less than 40,000 
Asian elephants living throughout the world in the wild. These wild 
populations were located in 13 south and southeastern Asian countries. 
In addition, there were only 14 populations of 1,000 or more individual 
elephants in a contiguous area which greatly reduced the long-term 
viability of this species.
  In response to this international wildlife crisis, I introduced the 
Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997. After hearings, markups and 
floor debate, I was honored that President Bill Clinton signed this 
important legislation into law on November 7, 1997. The fundamental 
goal of Public Law 105-96 was to create the Asian Elephant Conservation 
Fund.
  During the past decade, the Secretary of the Interior has carefully 
reviewed nearly 300 conservation grant proposals to assist beleaguered 
Asian elephants. I am pleased to report that 171 grants have been 
awarded to various governmental and non-governmental entities. These 
grants have received $7.8 million in Federal funds and in excess of $10 
million in private matching money.
  The types of approved projects funded include emergency elephant 
conservation support for those countries adversely affected by the 
tsunami disaster in Indonesia; erecting fences in Sri Lanka; 
establishing an elephant conservation working group in Thailand; 
promoting eco-tourism of elephants; increase the capacity of wildlife 
rangers in India; assess the habitat needs of elephants in Malaysia and 
implement a program for monitoring the illegal killing of elephants. 
Among the recipients of these grants were the Conservation 
International, Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife 
Conservation Society, Wild Fund for Nature and Wildlife Trust of India.
  Madam Speaker, these conservation funds have had a profound impact on 
protecting these irreplaceable species and in the long run I am 
convinced they will help to ensure that they will not disappear in the 
future. By allowing a small amount of Federal funds, our Government has 
been able to finance worthwhile projects to stop the extinction of 
Asian elephants.
  The legislation I am proposing today, the Asian Elephant Conservation 
Reauthorization Act, will extend this vital law at existing 
authorization levels until September 30, 2012. This will allow the 
Secretary of the Interior to approve additional meritious projects in 
the future.
  Ten years ago, during the initial hearing on my bill, H.R. 1787, a 
representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service testified that: 
``the Asian Elephant Conservation Act would . . . send a strong message 
to the world that the people of the United States care deeply about 
Asian elephants and that the U.S. Government is committed to helping 
preserve this keystone species.''
  There is no question that we need to reauthorize this important law 
and I urge my colleagues to work with me to make this a reality. As 
President Theodore Roosevelt once noted, ``the nation behaves well if 
it treats its natural resources as assets which it must turn over to 
the next generation, increased and not impaired in value.'' The road to 
extinction is a one-way street and we must work to ensure that the 
Asian elephant does not make that journey.

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