[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[December 4, 2000]
[Pages 2609-2611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on the Establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve
December 4, 2000
Good morning, and thank you, President Fahey, for making us feel so welcome at National Geographic;
Secretary Mineta; Under Secretary of NOAA
Baker. To all the members of the Coral Reef
Task Force and the Ocean Exploration Panel, I welcome you.
I want to say a special word of appreciation to Peter
Benchley for the work that he has done for
nearly a lifetime now and for the remarks he made. And I thank our two
native Hawaiians who are here, Tammy Leilani Harp, who spoke before me, and our Hawaiian elder, who's
affectionately known as Uncle Buzzy. Thank you very much for being here.
I want to thank the National Geographic for giving us a place to
make this announcement and for all the years of helping people to
understand the universe and this small planet. We are fortunate to live
in an age of unprecedented discovery, most of it in the biological
sciences. It seems that almost every day there is another unlocking of a
secret of subatomic particles or the complexities of the human genome.
But we're also discovering more and more evidence every day that our
human activity is profoundly affecting and, in some cases, overwhelming
the natural systems that surround and sustain us on our planet.
For 8 years now we have worked to act on this understanding to
better protect our natural resources for future generations. We have
created and expanded national parks, established 11 national monuments,
saved the California redwoods, protected the Yellowstone National Park
from gold mining. We're restoring the Florida Everglades and preserving
vistas of the Grand Canyon, and we are setting aside over 40 million
roadless acres in our national forests. All together, this amounts to
more land protection in the 48 continental States than any
administration since that of Teddy Roosevelt a century ago.
But we must recognize that, just as land is an important part of our
legacy in the preservation of our ecosystem, so, too, is our water. We
launched a nationwide effort to clean up polluted rivers, lakes, and
streams. We created
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new marine sanctuaries, in Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida, Washington,
and Hawaii. We also organized the first National Oceans Conference to
develop a strategy to protect the seas. Today the Department of
Commerce--and, Secretary Mineta, I thank
you for your leadership on this--is releasing a comprehensive report,
``Discovering Earth's Final Frontier.'' It charts a bold course for U.S.
ocean exploration in the 21st century. And I want to thank Secretary
Mineta, Dr. Marcia McNutt, and the other
members of the Ocean Exploration Panel for their work.
We have a lot of work to do. Many, many important ecosystems are
disappearing just as we begin to grasp their unique significance, their
role in regulating our climate, their potential for producing lifesaving
medicines. A lot of people are most familiar with the destruction of the
rain forests and worldwide efforts to save them. Today I want to focus
on what we're doing with the people of Hawaii to save the rainforests of
the sea, our coral reefs.
These remarkable living structures, built cell by cell over millions
of years, are at once irreplaceable and valuable. Coral reefs are
beautiful, but more than that, they're home to thousands of species of
fish and wildlife found nowhere else on Earth. Worldwide reefs generate
millions of dollars through fishing and tourism, putting food on our
tables and sustaining coastal communities. Coral reefs also protect
these same communities from the pounding waves of fierce storms. And
like the rain forests, they're providing us new hope for medical
breakthroughs.
Unfortunately, the world's reefs are in peril. Pollution, damage
from dynamite fishing, coral poachers, unwise coastal development, and
global warming already have killed over 25 percent of the world's reefs.
In some areas, such as the Central Indian Ocean, 90 percent of the coral
reefs have died, bleached as white as dead bone.
Now, this is not an isolated problem. Scientists at last month's
International Coral Reef Symposium presented strong evidence that unless
we take action now, half the world's coral reefs will disappear within
25 years. Recently, scientists have shown a strong correlation between
global warming and the rising ocean temperatures that contribute to reef
destruction.
Recognizing the urgency of this challenge, we remain committed to
reaching an international agreement to implement the Kyoto Protocol and
to cut the production of greenhouse gases. And despite the recent
delays, I still believe that we will get a good agreement. The stakes
are too high to let this imperative slip away.
We have reached the crossroads in the development of our natural
world. How many times in our lives, each of us, have we dismissed
something that went wrong, or that we did wrong, with the phrase, ``It's
just a drop in the ocean''? Now we have solid proof that millions, even
billions of these drops in the ocean are having a profound, lasting, and
destructive impact on the oceans and the world around us. So we act now
to hopefully save our seas and our reefs so that we do not lose their
beauty, their bounty, and their protective qualities forever.
What can we do to turn the tide? What steps can we take? Well, at my
direction, the Secretaries of Commerce and
Interior have been working closely with the
scientific, environmental, fishing, and native communities in Hawaii to
determine what can be done to save the vast majority of our remaining
coral reefs. At the same time, they solicited public comment and
received over a thousand comments from concerned citizens. Ultimately,
this unprecedented coalition has recommended a bold and visionary
initiative. Today I am proud to protect America's greatest unspoiled
reefs by creating the single largest nature preserve ever established in
the United States, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Reserve.
[Applause] Thank you.
This pristine, largely uninhabited archipelago covers more area than
Florida and Georgia combined. Integrated into our National Marine
Sanctuary Program, the new reserve will encompass nearly 70 percent of
our Nation's coral reefs. This area is a special place where the sea is
a living rainbow; the only voices, those of half the world's last
remaining monk seals and the cry of sea birds wheeling in the sky.
In creating this unique preserve, we're establishing the strongest
level of protection for oceans ever enacted and setting a new global
standard for reef and marine wildlife protection. Together, we will
safeguard the most sensitive areas, permit sustainable fishing and eco-
tourism and others, and enable native Hawaiians to honor their age-old
traditions.
The islands and reefs we're protecting today have long played an
important role in the history of the Pacific. Archaeologists tell us
that more than a thousand years ago, local islanders drew sustenance
from their brilliant turquoise waters.
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Centuries later, Charles Darwin marveled at the wildlife there during
his historic voyage. And none of us can ever forget, for 4 bloody days
in 1942, America's bravest heroes drew a line in the sand there, winning
the Battle of Midway and changing the course of World War II and
history.
Today we renew our commitment to winning the battle to protect our
global environment, preserving this natural heritage for a long time--I
hope forever.
Let me say, it was nearly a century ago, ironically, when President
Roosevelt recognized the same imperative and created the Hawaiian
Islands National Wildlife Refuge. He knew then that our natural wonders,
on land or sea, form an integral part of who we are as a people and that
every generation of Americans must do its part to sustain and strengthen
this legacy. Today we do just that, incorporating the refuge he created
into a new, vast, and wonderful ``Yellowstone of the Sea.''
By any measure, creating this coral reserve is a big step forward,
not just for marine conservation in the United States but for the health
of oceans and reefs around the world.
For thousands of years, people have risked their lives to master the
ocean. Now, suddenly, the ocean's life is at risk. We have the resources
and responsibility to rescue the sea, to renew the very oceans that give
us life, and thereby to renew ourselves. Today is an important step on
that road.
But there is much, much more to be done in the years ahead. And I
hope that no matter who becomes President--[laughter]--no matter what
the partisan divide of Congress, that those of you who are here in this
room will continue this work for the rest of your lives. It is
profoundly important, and how our grandchildren live depends upon how
well we do this work.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 10:20 a.m. in the Grosvenor Auditorium at
the National Geographic Museum. In his remarks, he referred to John M.
Fahey, Jr., president and chief executive officer, National Geographic
Society; author Peter Benchley; Tammy Leilani Harp, member, Native and
Indigenous Rights Advisory Panel to the Western Pacific Region Fishery
Management Council; Louis (Uncle Buzzy) Agard, board member, Native
Hawaiian Advisory Council; and Marcia K. McNutt, president and chief
executive officer, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The
Executive order establishing the reserve is listed in Appendix D at the
end of this volume.