SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congo Basin Forest
Partnership Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The tropical forests of the Congo Basin, lo-
cated in the Central African countries of Cameroon,
the Central African Republic, the Democratic Re-
public of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the
Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Sao
Tome/Principe, are second in size only to the trop-
ical forests of the Amazon Basin.
(2) These forests are a crucial economic re-
source for the people of the Central African region.
(3) Congo Basin forests play a critical role in
sustaining the environment—absorbing carbon diox-
ide, cleansing water, and retaining soil.
(4) Congo Basin forests contain the most di-
verse grouping of plants and animals in Africa, in-
cluding rare and endangered species, such as the
lowland gorilla, mountain gorilla, chimpanzee, and
okapi. These plants and animals are invaluable for
many reasons, including their genetic and bio-
chemical information, which could spark advances in
medical, agricultural, and industrial technology.
(5) Logging operations, driven by a growing
global demand for tropical hardwoods, are shrinking
these forests. One estimate has logging taking out
Congo Basin forest area at a rate of twice the size
of the State of Rhode Island every year.
(6) The construction of logging roads and other
developments are putting intense hunting pressure
on wildlife. At current hunting levels, most species
of apes and other primates, large antelope, and ele-
phants will disappear from the Congo Basin, with
some becoming extinct.
(7) If current deforestation and wildlife deple-
tion rates are not reversed, the six countries of the
Congo Basin most immediately, but also the world,
will pay an immense economic, environmental, and
cultural price.
(8) The United States has an interest in seeing
political stability and economic development advance
in the Congo Basin countries. This interest will be
adversely impacted if current deforestation and wild-
life depletion rates are not reversed.
(9) Poorly managed and nonmanaged logging
and hunting threatens to do to the Congo Basin
what it did to West Africa, which lost much of its
forest and wildlife through over-exploitation.
(10) Purged of wildlife, some Congo Basin for-
ests already are ‘‘empty forests’’.
(11) In an attempt to conserve the forests of
the Congo Basin, the region’s governments convened
the Yaounde (Cameroon) Forest Summit in March
1999.
(12) In September 2002, Secretary of State
Colin Powell launched the Congo Basin Forest Part-
nership (CBFP) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The
CBFP promotes the conservation and sustainable
use of the region’s forests, for example, by working
to combat poaching, illegal logging, and other
unsustainable practices, and giving local populations
an economic stake in the preservation of the forests,
including through the development of ecotourism.
(13)(A) The United States contribution to the
CBFP will focus on conserving 11 key landscapes in
6 countries—Cameroon, the Central African Repub-
lic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equa-
torial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo—
identified at the Yaounde Forest Summit as being of
the greatest biological importance to the region.
(B) The United States will fund field-based ac-
tivities within these 25,000,000 acres that aim to
support a network of 27 national parks and pro-
tected areas and well-managed forestry concessions.
(C) In this way, the work will build on existing
United States efforts, including those of the Central
African Regional Program for the Environment
(CARPE) of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development, which will implement the
CBFP.
(14) The CBFP has broad international finan-
cial support, including from non-African govern-
ments, the European Commission, the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and nu-
merous nongovernment organizations.
(15) A dramatic step toward conserving Congo
Basin forests has recently been taken by Gabon. In
September 2002, President Omar Bongo announced
the creation of 13 national parks, representing over
10 percent of Gabon’s surface area. Previously,
Gabon had no national park system.
(16) With the CBFP and other initiatives,
there exists unprecedented momentum for the con-
servation of Congo Basin forests.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the President to carry out the Congo Basin For-
est Partnership (CBFP) program $18,600,000 for each
of the fiscal years 2004 and 2005. Of the amounts appro-
priated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations
under the preceding sentence for a fiscal year,
$16,000,000 is authorized to be made available to the
Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment
(CARPE) of the United States Agency for International
Development.
(b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant
to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a)
are authorized to remain available until expended.
Passed the House of Representatives October 7,
2003.
Attest:
Clerk.