[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[August 14, 1992]
[Page 1359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



White House Statement on the Forests for the Future Initiative
August 14, 1992

    The White House yesterday launched implementation of the President's 
Forests for the Future initiative. The initiative will be directed by an 
interagency task force co-chaired by William K. Reilly, Administrator of 
the EPA and former president of World Wildlife Fund and the Conservation 
Foundation, and C. Boyden Gray, Counsel to the President.
    The Forests for the Future initiative, announced by the President on 
June 1 and advanced at the Rio Earth summit, is designed to stimulate 
effective actions for forest conservation and sustainable use. It 
follows from the President's call at the Houston economic summit in July 
1990 for a global agreement to conserve forests, which led to the 
Statement of Forest Principles agreed to in Rio. It encourages the 
cooperative, joint actions which may help to achieve a global forest 
agreement, and it builds on the administration's actions to conserve 
U.S. forests, such as the America the Beautiful initiative and the new 
ecosystem approach adopted in June by the major Federal forest 
management Agencies.
    Under the initiative, countries would form cooperative, action-
oriented forest partnerships to conserve and sustainably use forests. 
Partnerships would be based on proposals made by interested countries 
using effective and efficient approaches. To support such partnerships, 
the President is urging countries to double international forest 
assistance to a new international total of $2.7 billion per year. The 
President has committed an additional $150 million next year above 
already planned U.S. forest assistance and is working with other 
countries to gain their participation.
    At its meeting yesterday, the task force emphasized the need to make 
progress as soon as possible by pursuing early forest partnerships with 
interested countries and by convening a partnership forum to share ideas 
on forest conservation and sustainable use. Forest partnerships will be 
the key to achieving meaningful conservation results and motivating 
additional participation in the initiative.
    In addition to cochairs Reilly and Gray, the task force includes 
senior officials from the State Department, the Agency for International 
Development, the USDA Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the 
Smithsonian Institution, the Office of Management and Budget, the 
Council on Environmental Quality, the Council of Economic Advisers, the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Policy 
Development, and the National Security Council.