II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1210

To assist in the conservation of endangered and threatened species of fauna

and flora found throughout the world.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 10, 1999

Mr. CHAFEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To assist in the conservation of endangered and threatened

species of fauna and flora found throughout the world.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Endangered

5 Species Conservation Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) numerous species of fauna and flora in for9 eign countries have continued to decline to the point
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1 that the long-term survival of those species in the

2 wild is in serious jeopardy;

3 (2) many of those species are listed as endan4 gered species or threatened species under section 4

5 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.

6 1533) or in Appendix I, II, or III of the Convention

7 on International Trade in Endangered Species of

8 Wild Fauna and Flora;

9 (3) there are insufficient resources available for

10 addressing the threats facing those species, which

11 will require the joint commitment and effort of for12 eign countries within the range of those species, the

13 United States and other countries, and the private

14 sector;

15 (4) the grant programs established by Congress

16 for tigers, rhinoceroses, Asian elephants, and Afri17 can elephants have proven to be extremely successful

18 programs that provide Federal funds for conserva19 tion projects in an efficient and expeditious manner

20 and that encourage additional support for conserva21 tion in the foreign countries where those species

22 exist in the wild; and

23 (5) a new grant program modeled on the exist24 ing programs for tigers, rhinoceroses, and elephants

25 would provide an effective means to assist in the
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1 conservation of foreign endangered species for which

2 there are no existing grant programs.

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to conserve

4 endangered and threatened species of fauna and flora in

5 foreign countries, and the ecosystems on which the species

6 depend, by supporting the conservation programs for those

7 species of foreign countries and the CITES Secretariat,

8 promoting partnerships between the public and private

9 sectors, and providing financial resources for those pro10 grams and partnerships.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘‘Account’’ means the

14 Foreign Endangered and Threatened Species Con15 servation Account established by section 6.

16 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis17 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Agency for

18 International Development.

19 (3) CITES.—The term ‘‘CITES’’ means the

20 Convention on International Trade in Endangered

21 Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, done at Wash22 ington March 3, 1973 (27 UST 1087; TIAS 8249),

23 including its appendices and amendments.

24 (4) CONSERVATION.—The term ‘‘conservation’’

25 means the use of methods and procedures necessary
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1 to bring a species to the point at which there are

2 sufficient populations in the wild to ensure the long3 term viability of the species, including—

4 (A) protection and management of popu5 lations of foreign endangered or threatened spe6 cies;

7 (B) maintenance, management, protection,

8 restoration, and acquisition of habitat;

9 (C) research and monitoring;

10 (D) law enforcement;

11 (E) conflict resolution initiatives; and

12 (F) community outreach and education.

13 (5) FOREIGN ENDANGERED OR THREATENED

14 SPECIES.—The term ‘‘foreign endangered or threat15 ened species’’ means a species of fauna or flora—

16 (A) that is listed as an endangered or

17 threatened species under section 4 of the En18 dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533)

19 or that is listed in Appendix I, II, or III of

20 CITES; and

21 (B) whose range is partially or wholly lo22 cated in a foreign country.

23 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

24 the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of

25 Commerce, as program responsibilities are vested
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1 under Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970 (5 U.S.C.

2 App.).

3 SEC. 4. FOREIGN SPECIES CONSERVATION ASSISTANCE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of

5 funds, the Secretary shall use amounts in the Account to

6 provide financial assistance for projects for the conserva7 tion of foreign endangered or threatened species in foreign

8 countries for which project proposals are approved by the

9 Secretary in accordance with this section.

10 (b) PROJECT PROPOSALS.—

11 (1) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—A proposal for a

12 project for the conservation of foreign endangered or

13 threatened species may be submitted to the Sec14 retary by—

15 (A) any agency of a foreign country that

16 has within its boundaries any part of the range

17 of the foreign endangered or threatened species

18 if the agency has authority over fauna or flora

19 and the activities of the agency directly or indi20 rectly affect the species;

21 (B) the CITES Secretariat; or

22 (C) any person with demonstrated exper23 tise in the conservation of the foreign endan24 gered or threatened species.
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1 (2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—A project pro2 posal shall include—

3 (A) the name of the individual responsible

4 for conducting the project, and a description of

5 the qualifications of each individual who will

6 conduct the project;

7 (B) the name of the foreign endangered or

8 threatened species to benefit from the project;

9 (C) a succinct statement of the purposes of

10 the project and the methodology for imple11 menting the project, including an assessment of

12 the status of the species and how the project

13 will benefit the species;

14 (D) an estimate of the funds and time re15 quired to complete the project;

16 (E) evidence of support for the project by

17 appropriate governmental agencies of the for18 eign countries in which the project will be con19 ducted, if the Secretary determines that such

20 support is required for the success of the

21 project;

22 (F) information regarding the source and

23 amount of non-Federal funds available for the

24 project; and
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1 (G) any other information that the Sec2 retary considers to be necessary for evaluating

3 the eligibility of the project for funding under

4 this Act.

5 (c) PROPOSAL REVIEW AND APPROVAL.—

6 (1) REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMA7 TION.—If, after receiving a project proposal, the

8 Secretary determines that the project proposal is not

9 complete, the Secretary may request further infor10 mation from the person or entity that submitted the

11 proposal before complying with the other provisions

12 of this subsection.

13 (2) REQUEST FOR COMMENTS.—The Secretary

14 shall request written comments, and provide an op15 portunity of not less than 30 days for comments, on

16 the proposal from the appropriate governmental

17 agencies of each foreign country in which the project

18 is to be conducted.

19 (3) SUBMISSION TO ADMINISTRATOR.—The

20 Secretary shall provide to the Administrator a copy

21 of the proposal and a copy of any comments received

22 under paragraph (2). The Administrator may pro23 vide comments to the Secretary within 30 days after

24 receipt of the copy of the proposal and any com25 ments.
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1 (4) DECISION BY THE SECRETARY.—After tak2 ing into consideration any comments received in a

3 timely manner from the governmental agencies

4 under paragraph (2) and the Administrator under

5 paragraph (3), the Secretary may approve the pro6 posal if the Secretary determines that the project

7 promotes the conservation of foreign endangered or

8 threatened species in foreign countries.

9 (5) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 180 days

10 after receiving a completed project proposal, the Sec11 retary shall provide written notification of the Sec12 retary’s approval or disapproval under paragraph (4)

13 to the person or entity that submitted the proposal

14 and the Administrator.

15 (d) PRIORITY GUIDANCE.—In funding approved

16 project proposals, the Secretary shall give priority to the

17 following types of projects:

18 (1) Projects that will enhance programs for the

19 conservation of foreign endangered and threatened

20 species that are most imperiled.

21 (2) Projects that will provide the greatest con22 servation benefit for a foreign endangered or threat23 ened species.
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1 (3) Projects that receive the greatest level of as2 sistance, in cash or in-kind, from non-Federal

3 sources.

4 (4) Projects that will enhance local capacity for

5 the conservation of foreign endangered and threat6 ened species.

7 (e) PROJECT REPORTING.—Each person or entity

8 that receives assistance under this section for a project

9 shall submit to the Secretary and the Administrator peri10 odic reports (at such intervals as the Secretary considers

11 necessary) that include all information required by the

12 Secretary, after consultation with the Administrator, for

13 evaluating the progress and success of the project.

14 (f) GUIDELINES.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after

16 the date of enactment of this Act, after providing

17 public notice and opportunity for comment, the Sec18 retary of the Interior and the Secretary of Com19 merce shall each develop guidelines to carry out this

20 section.

21 (2) PRIORITIES AND CRITERIA.—The guidelines

22 shall specify—

23 (A) how the priorities for funding approved

24 projects are to be determined; and
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1 (B) criteria for determining which species

2 are most imperiled and which projects provide

3 the greatest conservation benefit.

4 SEC. 5. MULTILATERAL COLLABORATION.

5 The Secretary, in collaboration with the Secretary of

6 State and the Administrator, shall—

7 (1) coordinate efforts to conserve foreign en8 dangered and threatened species with the relevant

9 agencies of foreign countries; and

10 (2) subject to the availability of appropriations,

11 provide technical assistance to those agencies to fur12 ther the agencies’ conservation efforts.

13 SEC. 6. FOREIGN ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPE14 CIES CONSERVATION ACCOUNT.

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the

16 Multinational Species Conservation Fund of the Treasury

17 a separate account to be known as the ‘‘Foreign Endan18 gered and Threatened Species Conservation Account’’,

19 consisting of—

20 (1) amounts donated to the Account;

21 (2) amounts appropriated to the Account under

22 section 7; and

23 (3) any interest earned on investment of

24 amounts in the Account under subsection (c).

25 (b) EXPENDITURES FROM ACCOUNT.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

2 the Secretary may expend from the Account, without

3 further Act of appropriation, such amounts as are

4 necessary to carry out section 4.

5 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—An amount

6 not to exceed 6 percent of the amounts in the

7 Account—

8 (A) shall be available for each fiscal year

9 to pay the administrative expenses necessary to

10 carry out this Act; and

11 (B) shall be divided between the Secretary

12 of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce

13 in the same proportion as the amounts made

14 available under section 7 are divided between

15 the Secretaries.

16 (c) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.—The Secretary shall

17 invest such portion of the Account as is not required to

18 meet current withdrawals. Investments may be made only

19 in interest-bearing obligations of the United States.

20 (d) ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATIONS.—The

21 Secretary may accept and use donations to carry out this

22 Act. Amounts received by the Secretary in the form of do23 nations shall be available until expended, without further

24 Act of appropriation.
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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Ac3 count for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2005—

4 (1) $12,000,000 for use by the Secretary of the

5 Interior; and

6 (2) $4,000,000 for use by the Secretary of

7 Commerce.

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