[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15374-15375]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 311--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
    POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE 
                    DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED MATTERS

  Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. Jeffords, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. 
Akaka, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Leahy, 
Mr. Feingold, and Mr. Bingaman) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 311

       Whereas the Senate recalls the Stockholm Declaration of the 
     United Nations Conference on the Human Environment of 1972, 
     the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of the 
     United Nations Conference on Environment and Development of 
     1992, and Agenda 21--which provided the framework for action 
     for achieving sustainable development;
       Whereas the pillars of sustainable development--economic 
     development, social development and environmental 
     protection--are interdependent and mutually reinforcing 
     components, and many countries continue to face overwhelming 
     social, environmental and economic challenges;
       Whereas global environmental degradation is both affected 
     by and a significant cause of, social and economic problems 
     such as pervasive poverty, unsustainable production and 
     consumption patterns, poor ecosystem management and land use, 
     and the burden of debt;
       Whereas, despite the many successful and continuing efforts 
     of the international community, the environment and the 
     natural resource base that supports life on Earth continue to 
     deteriorate at an alarming rate;
       Whereas the Senate recognizes the importance of the World 
     Summit on Sustainable Development as a review of progress 
     achieved in implementing the commitments made at the United 
     Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and as an 
     opportunity for the international community to strengthen 
     international cooperation and implement its commitments to 
     achieve sustainable development;
       Whereas the Senate recognizes further that the World Summit 
     on Sustainable Development is intended to be a summit of 
     heads of state;
       Whereas the United States delegation was represented by the 
     President at the United Nations Conference on Environment and 
     Development of 1992;
       Whereas the Senate recognizes further the importance of the 
     United States of America as a world leader in effectively 
     addressing issues related to the 3 pillars of sustainable 
     development: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) having the President lead the United States delegation 
     would send a strong signal of United States support for the 
     goals of sustainable development;
       (2) the United States should at the World Summit on 
     Sustainable Development--
       (A) reaffirm its support for the implementation of 
     commitments entered into by the United States and the 
     international community at the United Nations Conference on 
     Environment and Development;
       (B) support increased international cooperation to 
     implement the provisions of Agenda 21 and to address the 
     challenges of sustainable development in the twenty-first 
     century, including new specific targets and commitments, in 
     particular with respect to the protection of the oceans and 
     freshwater, combating deforestation, implementation of the 
     United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 
     protection of the atmosphere including global climate change, 
     preservation of biological diversity, and reducing the use of 
     persistent bioaccumulative toxic pollutants;
       (C) reaffirm the importance of integrating environmental 
     and social considerations into economic decision making, 
     including trade and investment agreements;
       (D) support measures to improve compliance with and 
     enforcement of international environmental commitments;
       (E) support measures to improve the economic, social, and 
     environmental well-being of develop countries, including the 
     mobilization of domestic and international resources and 
     development assistance beyond current levels;
       (F) support the Global Environment Facility, which provides 
     critical financial assistance for environmental improvements 
     in the developing world, at a level which will allow it to 
     adequately fund ongoing and important new priorities;
       (G) support good governance within each country and at the 
     international level as essential for sustainable development, 
     including sound environmental, social and economic policies, 
     democratic and transparent institutions responsive to the 
     needs of the people, public access to information, the rule 
     of law, anti-corruption measures, gender equality and an 
     enabling environment for investment;
       (H) support efforts to meaningfully improve the 
     institutional structure for implementing the framework 
     created by Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment 
     and Development, as well as a more coherent and coordinated 
     approach among international environmental instruments;
       (I) remain firmly opposed to commercial whaling and to all 
     efforts to reopen international trade in whale meat or to 
     downlist

[[Page 15375]]

     any whale population in the Convention on International Trade 
     in Endangered Species; and
       (J) support measures to increase the use of renewable 
     sources of energy throughout the world--for example, 
     encourage export credit agencies to foster more projects to 
     develop renewable energy resources;
       (3) both at the world Summit on Sustainable Development and 
     in other appropriate fora, the United States should re-engage 
     in, provide leadership to, and urgently pursue the 
     negotiation of binding international agreements to address 
     global climate change consistent with--
       (A) United States commitments under Article 2 of the United 
     Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to ``achieve . 
     . . stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations at a level 
     that avoids dangerous anthropogenic interference with the 
     climate system . . . within a timeframe sufficient to allow 
     ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change . . .'';
       (B) the findings of the Third Assessment Report of the 
     Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which the 
     Administration should support in its international 
     negotiations; and
       (C) the Sense of Congress on Climate Change approved by the 
     Senate as part of the National Energy Policy Act of 2002;
       (4) both at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and 
     in other appropriate fora, the United States should support, 
     provide leadership and urgently pursue the negotiation of 
     binding international agreements for the protection of the 
     marine environment, aimed at--
       (A) reducing over-capacity of the global fishing fleet to 
     environmentally and economically sustainable levels;
       (B) reducing bycatch, and protecting endangered migratory 
     species, such as sea turtles, marine mammals and sea birds;
       (C) addressing the international aspects of marine debris;
       (D) combating the degradation and destruction of coral 
     reefs; and
       (E) reducing land-based pollution such as sewage and other 
     nutrients; and
       (5) the President should identify priority international 
     environmental agreements that the United States has signed 
     during and following the United Nations Conference on 
     Environment and Development that the Administration will 
     present to the Senate for ratification.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a Senate resolution 
with my good friend and the chairman of the Environment and Public 
Works Committee, Mr. Jeffords of Vermont. We are pleased to be joined 
by Senators Boxer, Lieberman, Akaka, Murray, Durbin, Cantwell, 
Torricelli, Feingold, Leahy, and Bingaman in submitting this 
resolution.
  The World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD, will take place 
August 26-September 4, 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The WSSD 
will bring together tens of thousands of participants, including 
governments, environmentalists and business leaders. The WSSD is timed 
as the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking United Nations 
Conference on Environment and Development, UNCED, held in Rio de 
Janiero in 1992. The overall goal of the WSSD is to assess the progress 
of countries in implementing the commitments made at Rio and to 
reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable development.
  Among the core accomplishments of the Rio conference were ``Agenda 
21,'' which provides a comprehensive framework for achieving 
sustainable development, including chapters on protecting the 
atmosphere and the oceans, and the Rio Declaration which sets forth 
principles such as the need for a precautionary approach in 
environmental protection. Also at Rio, several important international 
conventions were opened for signature: the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change, UNFCC, and the Convention on Biological 
Diversity, CBD, both of which were ultimately signed by the United 
States, with the UNFCC also ratified by the U.S. Senate.
  I cannot emphasize how critical this world summit is. As a planet we 
need to find a way forward, with countries large and small, rich and 
poor working together, to agree on steps that protect the environment 
yet allow our economies to grow sustainable. This resolution that I am 
offering today urges the administration to make this summit a priority, 
and to support the goals of sustainable development. This includes 
supporting specific, concrete targets and timetables for implementing 
the broad goals of Agenda 21, and a host of other common sense issues 
that should be addressed at the WSSD. The United States must be a 
leader in demonstrating its commitments to these goals, and in showing 
the world that economic growth can occur consistent with improved 
environmental quality. The resolution also calls on the United States 
to take a leading role both at the Summit as well as in other 
appropriate venues in negotiating binding international agreements to 
address the very real threat of global climate change, as well as 
agreements to address critical oceans and fisheries issues facing the 
world today.
  This summit is a real opportunity for our Nation. It is my hope that 
the Bush Administration will recognize it as such and work with the 
international community to develop a host of measures that will make 
this planet a better place to live.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague and 
friend Sen. John Kerry and ten other Senators to submit a Sense of the 
Senate Resolution concerning United States policy at the World Summit 
on Sustainable Development, WSSD, an international conference to be 
held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 24-September 4, 2002. 
The Kerry-Jeffords Resolution calls on the United States to reaffirm 
its current environmental and development commitments under and since 
the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held 
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, otherwise known as the Earth Summit.
  The Kerry-Jeffords Resolution also urges the United States to take 
its sustainable development commitments further through the full 
implementation of ratified treaties such as the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations 
Convention to Combat Desertification, two treaties of great importance 
to me. Implementation of these and other treaties should include 
commitment to real targets and timetables. At a recent joint hearing 
between the Environment and Public Works and Foreign Relations 
Committees, we learned that the United States has not maintained the 
spirit or the letter of its commitment under the Framework Convention. 
Other provisions in the Resolution call on the United States to be 
actively engaged in international negotiations that address the 
protection of oceans and freshwater, combating deforestation, 
preservation of biological diversity, increasing the use of renewable 
energy sources, and reducing the use of persistent toxic pollutants.
  The Resolution makes it clear that Presidential leadership of the 
United States delegation at the WSSD would send a strong signal of our 
Nation's support for the goals of sustainable development. President 
Bush's participation at Johannesburg would help rebuild alliances 
weakened by the Administration's diminished involvement in 
international climate change negotiations. His participation would also 
strengthen relationships that are becoming increasingly important in a 
world where any nation can face serious threats to its national 
security and its environmental and human security. This Summit is an 
important opportunity to demonstrate that we will not act unilaterally 
when our actions can permanently and negatively affect the global 
commons.

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