    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [November 22, 1996]
    [Pages 2142-2144]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the International Coral Reef Initiative in Port Douglas,
    Australia
    November 22, 1996

        Thank you very much. Premier and Mrs. Borbidge, Mayor Berwick,
    Minister Hill and Mrs. Hill, members of the Great Barrier Reef Marine
    Park Authority, and to Minister Moore and Mrs. Moore, especially to
    Alicia Stevens for reminding us what this is all about today.
        Hillary and I and our party have had a wonderful visit to Australia.
    We understand now why it is called the Lucky Country. But we believe
    that there is more than luck involved here. Today we celebrate the
    commitment of the people of this country, of the United States, and
    people all over the world to the proposition that we must preserve the
    natural resources that God has given us. We are here near the biggest,
    best managed protected marine and coastal area in the world for a clear
    reason: Australia has made a national commitment to be good stewards of
    the land with which God blessed you.
        I am especially pleased today, as has already been said, that the
    Government of Australia is honoring the United States by naming a
    section of the Great Barrier Reef after Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson was
    the great American environmentalist; she was a marine biologist. Vice
    President Gore wrote about Rachel Carson: She brought us back to a
    fundamental idea lost to an amazing degree in modern civilization, the
    interconnection of human beings and the natural environment. That
    interconnection clearly imposes upon all of us a shared responsibility.
    To preserve a future for our children and grandchildren, we must care
    for our shared environment. It is a practical and a moral imperative.
        We are citizens not only of individual nations but of this small and
    fragile planet. We know that pollution has contempt for borders, that
    what comes out of a smokestack in one nation can wind up on the shores
    of another an ocean away. We know, too, that recovery and preservation
    also benefits people beyond the borders of the nation in which it
    occurs. We know that protecting the environment can affect not only our
    health and our quality of life, it can even affect the peace. In too
    many places, including those about which we read too often now on the
    troubled continent of Africa, abuses like deforestation breed scarcity,
    and scarcity aggravates the turmoil which exists all over the world.

    [[Page 2143]]

        I am very proud of the work our two nations have done to preserve
    our natural heritage. Just as we have been allies for peace and freedom,
    we must be allies in the 21st century to protect the Earth's
    environment. Our work together on the International Coral Reef
    Initiative is a shining example of what we can achieve. Founded in 1994
    by Australia, the United States, and six other governments, this
    initiative helps nations and regions to conserve, manage, and monitor
    coral reefs.
        Pollution, overfishing, and overuse have put many of our unique
    reefs at risk. Their disappearance would destroy the habitat of
    countless species. It would unravel the web of marine life that holds
    the potential for new chemicals, new medicines, unlocking new mysteries.
    It would have a devastating effect on the coastal communities from
    Cairns to Key West, Florida, communities whose livelihood depends upon
    the reefs.
        Steadily we are making progress. In this part of the world, the ICRI
    has played a crucial role in slowing the use of cyanide to harvest coral
    reef fish. Around the world, more than 75 nations and scores of
    organizations have participated in ICRI programs. Today, with your
    knowledge and leadership, we are seeing to it that the world's reefs
    make it into the next century safe and secure. And I thank you for that.
        Let me say that our effort to save the world's reefs is a model for
    the work that we can do together in other environmental areas, and there
    is a lot of work to do. Deforestation is claiming an area the size of
    South Korea every year. Let us, together with the United Nations,
    develop a strategy for the sustainable management of all our forests.
        Toxic chemicals and pesticides banned here and in the United States
    can still find their way into our lives, endangering our land, our
    water, and our children. Rachel Carson, whom we honor here today, helped
    alert us in the United States to these dangers. Let us now forge a
    global agreement to stop these toxic substances from being released into
    the world around us.
        Today, thanks to the Montreal Protocol, we are slowing the
    production and the consumption of chlorofluorocarbons, the chemicals
    that have been eating a hole in the Earth's ozone layer. We're on our
    way to closing the ozone hole that threatens Antarctica and Australia.
    Now we must see to it that this landmark treaty is enforced from one
    corner of the Earth to another. We need no more new holes in the ozone.
        Finally, we must work to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
    These gases released by cars and power plants and burning forests affect
    our health and our climate. They are literally warming our planet. If
    they continue unabated, the consequences will be nothing short of
    devastating for the children here in this audience and their children.
        New weather patterns, lost species, the spread of infectious
    diseases, damaged economies, rising sea levels: if present trends
    continue, there is a real risk that sometime in the next century, parts
    of this very park we are here in today could disappear, submerged by a
    rising ocean. That is why today, from this remarkable place, I call upon
    the community of nations to agree to legally binding commitments to
    fight climate change.
        We must stand together against the threat of global warming. A
    greenhouse may be a good place to raise plants; it is no place to
    nurture our children. And we can avoid dangerous global warming if we
    begin today and if we begin together.
        If we meet all these challenges, we can make 1997 a milestone year
    in protecting the global environment. We can do it in a way that
    encourages sustainable development. One thing we've learned in recent
    years is that protecting the environment and promoting human progress
    are not incompatible goals; they go hand in hand. I am very pleased that
    the United Nations General Assembly will have a special session in New
    York next year to review our progress in advancing sustainable
    development since the Earth summit in Rio.
        An Australian folktale has it that in the beginning the sky was so
    close to the Earth that it blocked out all the light. Everyone was
    forced to crawl in the darkness, collecting with their hands whatever
    they could find to eat. But the birds of that land decided that if they
    worked together they could raise the sky and make more room to move
    about. Slowly, with long sticks, they lifted the sky. The darkness
    passed, and everyone stood upright.
        If we work together as those birds did, we can preserve our
    environment for our children, for their children, for generations
    beyond. Let us lift our sights and ourselves to that great challenge.
        Thank you very much.

    [[Page 2144]]

    Note: The President spoke at 1:45 p.m. at Port Douglas Park. In his
    remarks, he referred to Queensland Premier Robert Borbidge and his wife,
    Jennifer; Mayor Mike Berwick of Port Douglas; Senator Robert Hill,
    Minister for the Environment, and his wife, Diana; John Moore, Minister
    for Industry, Science, and Tourism, and his wife, Jacqueline; and Alicia
    Stevens, Port Douglas student who introduced the President.