Statements by U.S. Officials

Remarks by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy
At the U.S.-BSEC Joint Seminar
“Environmental Protection for Economic Growth:  Best Practices Exchange"
Organization for the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Headquarters
Istanbul, Turkey

September 12, 2007

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your introduction and a special thank you to the BSEC Secretary General, Ambassador Chrysanthopoulos.  I am very grateful also to the current BSEC Chairmanship-in-Office from the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Kadıoğlu, the Deputy Undersecretary for the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry.  I would also like to thank the BSEC executive manager Stefana Greavu – we know that there is a lot of work that goes into these events and we appreciate her talents and skills in organizing this symposium.  Finally, I would also like to thank Turkey for hosting this event.  We are all grateful for the hospitality and I am delighted that I was able to come not only to Istanbul, but to be able to arrive earlier to visit Adana and Mersin and see a bit more of this country. 

First, congratulations to everyone.  This is the first symposium of its kind for BSEC.  This has never happened before and it is a big step that we have managed to all come together – experts and interested parties from over a dozen countries.  America has an observer status, but we are very interested in these areas because the environment is a passion in the United States.  And we want to share that passion, because we know the difference that it can make in people’s lives.  I hope that this will be the first opportunity of many for our different countries and governments to share our best practices with one another. 

The United States has many examples of the wonder and the good that water can bring, but there are also examples where water has not been so positive a force because of man-made environmental degradation.  Let me illustrate with three different tales:  a beach on a lake in Vermont, a river in the state of Washington, and a beach off the coast of California. 

Shelbourne Beach on Lake Champlain in Vermont brought many opportunities to the local community.  It was a great place to learn swimming and sailing skills and to enjoy time with family.  Due to high E. Coli counts, there were occasions when the beach had to be closed, which brought distress and uncertainty to the community.  After commissioning a study to discover the source of the bacteria the town found that residential septic systems along a stream were the most likely cause.  Working together, homeowners and local government rebuilt their systems by installing new tanks and leach fields.  New data confirmed that the beach was now meeting Vermont water quality standards 100 percent of the time thereby restoring the beach to its important role within the community.

The Yakima River flows for over 200 miles through the State of Washington and is one of the most intensively irrigated and agriculturally diverse areas in the United States.  Because of open ditch, “furrow” irrigation practices, sediment containing pesticides and other pollutants from the irrigated farmlands flowed into the river wreaking havoc on the fish and their habitat – the fish were shown to have the highest concentrations of DDT in the country.   By working together on a federal, state and local level – especially a partnership formed between irrigation districts – sprinkler or drip systems were introduced which greatly reduced the polluted sediment.

A final example is my home town of Santa Barbara, located on the beautiful Pacific Ocean on the coast of California.  The beach brought tourism and provided jobs.  It was a place for family, friends, and fun.  A disastrous oil spill off the coast was one of the formative moments of my life.  The leak spilled oil on the beaches.   I remember going to the beach and having our feet covered with oozing oil and tar.  Birds, covered in oil were dying as volunteers tried to save them.  Fish lay dead on the beaches.  The community worked together with industry to clean it up and to introduce safeguards to restore and protect the beaches.  Protecting coastal regions is particularly important because they are an immense draw for people.  In the United States, the coastal regions represent only 17 percent of the land mass yet over 53 percent of the population is drawn to live in coastal areas. 

In all three examples it took community-spirited individuals, talented professionals, and dedicated members of the government who all cared about the environment to help overcome differences, lack of knowledge, and fiscal challenges in order to work together to make a difference. 

Government has a very important role to play.  Our own national symbol, the Bald Eagle was in danger of extinction, but by banning the insecticide DDT it is now safe.    Our national parks are an area of pride because the government, National Park System and Forest Service have dedicated over 34 million hectares of land and protected and restored them for parks and monuments, recreation areas and trails.  The parks and forests also have an important role to play in reducing green house gas emissions.  President Bush recently declared an area off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands a marine sanctuary, thereby creating the single largest act of ocean conservation in history.  It will preserve coral reefs and is home to more than 7,000 marine species, about a quarter of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

None of this would have happened without the role of government.  And what we have learned in the United States over the past 30-plus years is that protecting the environment isn’t just good for families and good for tourism.  It is also good for the economy, it is good for jobs, and it makes good sense.  Tourism is a very important industry in the United States both domestically and internationally.  “Ecotourism” is now a buzz word.  People are traveling and sightseeing but they also want to preserve the ecological bio diversity of the area.  They want to see the sights but in a way that is preserving them and not destroying them.

We have learned the important role of education and the importance of teaching young people and our communities about the environment.  We introduced public awareness campaigns and environment sciences and community services into school curriculums. 

Environmental protection is not just a government function.  Businesses and corporations share the responsibility.  Companies’ identities and public images are now more than ever linked to how proactively they work on environmental issues.  We find that businesses and corporations are very keen to work in partnership because it is good for businesses as well.  It is good for their corporate profile and they want to have an identity that shows that they care about the communities and they care about environmental issues. 

We have also learned that environmental damage knows no borders.  We have had to find ways of bringing different communities, regions, and sectors of society together in order to resolve environmental issues in the United States.  As we start the BSEC Symposium here today we know that similarly, cooperation with neighboring countries is vital on the issue of environmental protection.  The countries of the greater Black Sea region share riverine and littoral ecosystems that can best be protected through cooperative, complementary efforts.  We can preserve them only by working together.  So I applaud the BSEC member countries for convening here today and encourage you to share your experiences.   I hope that this will be the first of many symposiums in which we can all work collaboratively not only in the field of environmental protection, but on other topics of mutual interest as well.

I look forward to visiting many of your countries, and exploring how you are approaching these environmental challenges and overcoming them.

Thank you.