The Pacific convention has not as yet resulted in negotiation of a specific protocol on protected areas and wildlife but that may be in the cards as well.

Associated with each of these regional programs are regional action plans that call for coordination and cooperation through which the parties coordinate and cooperate in taking specific actions to implement the framework conventions.

I think in both the Caribbean and in the Pacific these action plans offer opportunities for collaborative research and certainly in both areas coral reef ecosystems have been given a high priority for cooperative research activities.

As I mentioned, Mr. Chairman, I indicated also that I would turn my attention to the U.N. conference on environment and development, the Rio Conference. We certainly welcome your and the broadest participation from the Congress in this important conference. In the agenda 21 being developed for the Rio conference, oceans issues figure prominently. At the most recent round in preparations there were significant agreements as to areas of priority for the Rio conference and more particularly for areas of priorities for the international community following Rio. Again we can go into more detail later perhaps but I would note first that there is an important linkage made in the preparatory work so far between coastal zone management and the protection of off-shore ecosystems than including coastal ecosystems coral reefs, et cetera; and specifically, there is a call for parties to take specific steps, international community to take specific steps with regard to the protection of critical habitats and with the agreement to give priority to 5 areas of which coral reef ecosystems is the first of such areas. It includes, however, seagrass beds, estuaries, temperate and tropical wetlands, including mangrove areas, as well as other spawning and nursery areas. So we are involved in that process, and we felt the priority accorded to that approach is an important one. But again I think it is worth noting that this is basically an agenda setting exercise at this stage. It will require significant efforts for implementation in the future.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, the focus of this hearing is of course research than including long-term research. These remarks have identified a number of activities, a number of cooperative mechanisms evolving within the international community. All of them are data dependent, all offer opportunities for collaborative research but to achieve objectives they will require long-term sustained research both to determine the long-term trends but also to determine the need for the specific actions, remedial actions, preventive actions, and to judge how such actions are doing, judge the effect of those actions.

There is in the action plans of the regional satisfactory conventions I think a major opportunity for us to pursue those objectives. There are also within the international arena, particularly within the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission which is developing a Global Ocean Observing System with a major coastal component. There are opportunities and from later speakers we will here how some of those activities are being applied on a regional basis such as in the Caribbean.

Those are my brief summary remarks. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Scully follows:]

TESTIMONY OF

R. TUCKER SCULLY, DIRECTOR
OFFICE OF OCEANS AFFAIRS

BUREAU OF OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL
AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

BEFORE THE JOINT HEARING OF

THE COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES, AND THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 23, 1992

Mr. Chairman:

My name is Tucker Scully. I am the Director of the Office of Oceans Affairs at the Department of State. I am pleased to appear before this joint hearing of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

I do not intend to go into detail on specific threats which coral reefs might be facing, or to lay out particular management techniques to enhance their protection. Rather, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss some of the instruments for intergovernmental cooperation for the conservation of coral reefs.

This discussion rests on the belief that it is clearly in the best interests of the United States to cooperate with other countries for the conservation of coral reefs. Necessary protection of our domestic coral reefs cannot be accomplished by the United States alone. Even if we were able to restrict our citizens from all actions which could possibly damage coral reefs, our reefs could still be threatened by oil spills, agricultural run-off, sedimentation, nutrification, and other problems which affect our waters from areas beyond our jurisdiction. Equally important, as is increasingly recognized, the protection of coral reefs and the maintenance of marine biological diversity, is a general problem facing the international community of which we are a part. Reef systems are under stress around the globe, with probably the most vulnerable outside of the United States Many small island nations are critically dependent upon maintenance of healthy reef systems. There is much we can

contribute to, and much we can learn from, cooperative international efforts to address the problems facing coral reef systems.

Regional Seas Programs, created under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), have been set up to cooperate in conserving the marine environment in two areas where the United States has coral reefs--in the Caribbean and in the South Pacific.

Cartagena Convention and The Protocol on Specially
Protected Areas and Wildlife

The Caribbean Regional Seas Program has resulted in a formal "Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region". This treaty, better known as the "Cartagena Convention", was signed in 1983 by 13 countries and entered into force in 1986. Currently, 19 countries have ratified or acceded to the Convention.

The Cartagena Convention is a "framework convention". It sets out general obligations to protect the marine environment of the wider Caribbean region. It also provides for the adoption of additional protocols to facilitate the effective implementation of the Convention, as the parties may deem necessary and desirable. Adopted along with the Cartagena Convention was a Protocol concerning Cooperation in Combatting Oil Spills in the Wider Caribbean Region. This Oil Spill Protocol obligates Parties to cooperate in taking all necessary measures, both preventative and remedial, for the protection of the marine and coastal environment of the wider Caribbean region.

On January 18, 1990, 13 Parties to the Cartagena Convention signed a Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife, or SPAW Protocol. Initial lists of species to be protected under the SPAW Protocol were adopted on June 11, 1991. The Protocol is now in the process of being ratified by the respective governments. It will come into force 30 days after the date of deposit of the ninth instrument of ratification or accession to the Protocol. Even though it is not officially operative, however, governments have agreed to implement its measures in so far as possible until it such time as it comes into force.

The United States was a strong supporter of the SPAW Protocol. We played a leading role in its development, and we believe that it has the potential to make a significant improvement in the conservation of coral reefs, in the marine environment and in associated terrestrial environments of the Caribbean as well.

O

The SPAW Protocol can be used:

to identify regional and national needs related to
habitat protection and conservation priorities.

o to identify ways to integrate biodiversity

O

O

conservation into national resources management
policies.

to assist in the dissemination of information related to sustainable utilization of biotic resources.

to promote biodiversity initiatives that can be
adopted by the private sector.

o to coordinate or facilitate the training of environmental managers and policy makers on matters related to conservation and sustainable utilization of living resources.

to assist in the coordination of regional activities related to habitat conservation, foster the strengthening of NGO's in the region and foster government/NGO's dialogues.

The Protocol encompasses two different, complementary approaches to conservation. It calls for measures to protect important habitats and for measures to protect particular endangered or threatened species.

Under the requirement to cooperate to protect habitat, we expect that the SPAW Protocol will at least be useful in developing criteria for designating areas, in developing networks for the management of protected areas, in improving the enforcement of regulations, and in enhancing the training of park managers.

The parties are also required to regulate activities having adverse effects on protected species or their habitats and ecosystems. Under the requirement to protect species, we expect the SPAW Protocol to be instrumental in promoting the development of international recovery plans for species listed on Annexes, in establishing or supporting centers for disseminating and archiving data on species protection, in facilitating training of scientists and technicians in conservation and restoration biology, in improving international enforcement of regulations designed to protect species on Annexes, and in assessing restoration needs in the region and assist in the development of restoration plans for these habitats.

Article 11 of the Protocol contains co-operative measures that the parties are obligated to adopt to ensure