    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [February 15, 2007]
    [Pages 161-162]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Protocols to the Convention for
    the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider
    Caribbean Region
    February 15, 2007

    To the Senate of the United States:
        I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to
    ratification, the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources
    and Activities (the ``Protocol'') to the Convention for the Protection
    and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region,
    with Annexes, done at Oranjestad, Aruba, on October 6, 1999, and signed
    by the United States on that same date. The report of the Secretary of
    State is enclosed for the information of the Senate.
        The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine
    Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (the ``Cartagena Convention'')
    is a regional framework agreement negotiated under the auspices of the
    Regional Seas Program of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
    It sets out general legal obligations to protect the marine environment
    of the Gulf of Mexico, Straits of Florida, Caribbean Sea, and
    immediately adjacent areas of the Atlantic Ocean--collectively known as
    the Wider Caribbean Region. The United States became a Party to the
    Cartagena Convention in 1984. The Cartagena Convention envisions the
    development of protocols to further elaborate certain of its general
    obligations and to facilitate its effective implementation.
        Negotiated with the active participation and leadership of the
    United States, the Protocol addresses one of the most serious sources of
    marine pollution in the Wider Caribbean Region. It is estimated that 70
    to 90 percent of pollution entering the marine environment emanates from
    land-based sources and activities. Among the principal land-based
    sources of marine pollution in the Caribbean are domestic wastewater and
    agricultural nonpoint source runoff. Such pollution contributes to the
    degradation of coral reefs and commercial fisheries, negatively affects
    regional economies, and endangers public health, recreation, and tourism
    throughout the region.
        The Protocol and its Annexes list priority source categories,
    activities, and associated contaminants that affect the Wider Caribbean
    Region, and set forth factors that Parties will be required to apply in
    determining prevention, reduction, and control strategies to manage
    land-based sources of pollution. In particular, the Parties are required
    to ensure that domestic wastewater discharges meet specific effluent
    limitations, and to develop plans for the prevention and reduction of
    agricultural nonpoint source pollution. The Protocol is expected to
    raise standards for treating domestic wastewater throughout the region
    to levels close to those already in place in the United States.
        The United States would be able to implement its obligations under
    the Protocol under existing statutory and regulatory authority.
        The Protocol is the first regional agreement to establish effluent
    standards to protect one of our most valuable resources, the marine
    environment. It differs markedly from other, similar regional agreements
    in its conceptual approach and the specificity of its obligations. As
    such, the Protocol is expected to set a new standard for regional
    agreements on this subject. Early ratification will demonstrate our
    continued commitment to global leadership and to the protection of the
    marine environment of the Wider Caribbean Region.
        I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration
    to the Protocol

    [[Page 162]]

    and its Annexes, with the declaration described in the accompanying
    report of the Secretary of State, and give its advice and consent to
    ratification.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     February 15, 2007.

    Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    February 20.