Introduction
Good afternoon, and it’s an honor and a thrill to be with you today - to be back at DOJ holding court with this amazing group of lawyers who collectively have done so much to make the ideal of America the Beautiful a reality.
And if you only remember one thing about what I say today - I’m here to affirm that I’d like to further expand and strengthen the work we do together with you.
Because even though our agencies’ missions may appear to be vastly different - in fact, they are quite similar. In essence we both exist to create communities of consent around governance and ensure adherence to the rule of law. It is who we are - what we both do - domestically and internationally.
We start with a tremendous advantage in this work, because our domestic environmental laws are among the best in the world. We are a shining example of what so many other nations aspire to when it comes to environmental law and governance.
So, I want to begin by thanking you for your work in fulfilling the promise of our laws and for protecting our environment here in the U.S.
I am grateful to have spent time during, what I will affectionately call my “formative years" in government, here at DOJ.
I was so lucky to serve here for one of my personal heroes, Attorney General Janet Reno, and a dear friend and mentor, Attorney General Garland, as well as two incredible environmental law champions - former leaders of the Environment Division - Lois Schiffer and John Cruden.
I would not be able to do the work I do now at State without the fundamentals in the rule of law that I learned at the Department of Justice. I am so grateful to have had the chance to serve here.
Our Work at State
For those not familiar with our work in the OES Bureau at State, let me paint a picture of what we do.
Our team of more than 250 professionals works to foster international cooperation and collaboration across the entire spectrum of environment and conservation law.
This extends from:
* ending the scourge of global and transboundary pollution,
* to disrupting vast international criminal networks undertaking illegal fishing, mining, logging and wildlife trade
* to creating broad agreements on fighting climate change and biodiversity loss,
* to forging cooperation on space exploration, AI and quantum computing that are taking us to the outer limits of scientific discovery!
* Yes, of course, we represent the United States in multilateral negotiations and international organizations.
But more importantly, we build governance capacity with international partners. And we help structure global laws and norms to ensure governments have a foundation from which to keep peace and ensure prosperity, in an increasingly small world with finite natural resources.
And we ensure that, in doing so, JUSTICE is served - particularly for those who are most impacted by scarce resources, environmental degradation, and the vicissitudes of climate change.
We at the State Department appreciate that for this work to be FULLY realized, there must be accountability.
And this requires transparency, monitoring, reporting, and ultimately when all else fails, enforcement. And I think, from that perspective, there is untapped potential for State and DOJ to work closely together - even more closely than our organizations already do.
I’ll touch on that at the end of my remarks. But first, I wanted to give you an overview of OES’s work in last year, and into 2023.
OES Priorities
Fifty years after the creation of the modern environmental movement, last year was a pivotal one for the health of the planet and all its people.
The U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a global GOAL to conserve 30 percent of the world’s lands, waters and ocean by 2030. This includes areas of the ocean that are beyond national jurisdiction. Those are areas of the planet that now only have piecemeal laws and governance.
Last year, we launched alliances to combat illegal fishing. This is an area of lax global rules, weak governance mechanisms, and lacking credible enforcement. The oceans have been the wild, wild west of our planet. And now we are the worse for it. Precious fish stocks and biodiversity - an important source of sustenance for billions around the world - are at risk.
And, in addition, we launched a global coalition to encourage countries to close pristine areas of their own ocean waters, making illegal fishing much easier to enforce.
We also pledged to work to assist some of the most innovative leaders of these efforts, such as the Corridor for Marine Protection or “CMAR" in the Eastern Tropical Pacific waters of Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and Ecuador.
Last year, we also led the successful effort to launch negotiation of the world’s first global treaty to combat plastic pollution.
We are a planet drowning in plastic - from the deepest part of the ocean to the tallest mountain top, and from pole to pole. Our planet and all its life are being negatively impacted by this unfailingly but regrettably durable substance, upon which we have grown overdependent.
We also revitalized space and science diplomacy. Twenty-three countries have now signed on to the Artemis Accords, which promote bilateral and multilateral space cooperation.
After a hiatus during the previous administration - we’ve revived a program to recruit experts from the private sector and academia who in their spare time will help us advance U.S. outreach to scientists and researchers doing the most groundbreaking work around the world.
Our new group of Science Envoys - who start next week - is majority female and includes the first native American envoy whose expertise is in indigenous scientific knowledge.
With these achievements and many more, we have made major progress to begin to achieve better governance over what so many people take for granted - the wealth of natural “capital" on this planet and beyond.
And, in the coming year, we’re hoping to use this foundation of accomplishments as a springboard to catalyze action in five areas.
So, what are our 2023 Priorities? Where are we pivoting to action?
The first area of action is “Safeguarding People, Places, and Nature."
More than half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature. But we are at risk of a new wave of mass extinctions due to human activity. Which is why we must start now to make the newly agreed upon Convention on Biological Diversity GOAL of conserving 30% of the planet by 2030 A REALITY.
This year we hope to conclude a new global agreement to protect areas in the high seas. We will work with coastal countries around the world who are creating more Marine Protected Areas both in their own domestic waters and to create MPAs on the high seas in their region.
We will also be working through various global climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives to help countries in the Amazon and the Congo, among others, to reverse deforestation, which will both conserve biodiversity and store carbon.
Moreover, we are delving into the economics of this work. By putting a dollar value on nature and making sure that there is sufficient funding from public and private sources to pay for these protections - mobilizing more green and blue finance to support this agenda, particularly for developing countries.
But without enforcement - these protections are nothing more than words on a page and lines on a map, and the funding needed won’t come. Communities in many parts of the world that are dependent on nature are harmed.
Nothing brought this home to me more than the time I spent with the park rangers in Africa’s Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While there I honored the lives of the more than 200 of them who had been killed defending the rule of law, local communities, and incredible species like mountain gorillas in this precious gem of a park.
Which is why our second priority is: “Countering Environmental Security Threats."
Environmental security threats come in many forms, and President Biden’s National Security Strategy recognizes explicitly the links between our planet’s health and global peace and security.
We must combat nature crimes like wildlife trafficking, or illegal logging and mining, and we will continue to target criminal networks globally. These are the same groups trafficking in other illicit substances, fueling corruption, and laundering money gained from nature crimes.
We are also increasing our efforts to combat IUU fishing in particular with a focus on its connections to forced labor issues, maritime security, and lawlessness at sea.
And we are working with partner nations to protect U.S. and global security interests in the rapidly changing Arctic and Antarctic. We will ensure rule of law and international cooperation on conservation and sustainability for the world’s harshest and most remote environments.
But as you well know, environmental enforcement goes beyond fighting crime.
So, we are working to create more robust global legal regimes to “Eliminate Harmful Pollution," - our third priority. On this, I want to highlight one area, in particular.
We are working in earnest now with all countries around the world to negotiate a global agreement to eliminate the discharge of plastic pollution into the environment by 2040.
This is a huge task and will require not only buy-in but action from the private sector, NGOs and sub-national governments, and local communities, at home and abroad, to innovate new solutions to get us all out of this plastic pollution crises.
Our aim is to establish an ambitious, high-functioning organization comprised of public and private partners by the end of the year, to start building momentum and action across the broad spectrum of plastic interest groups and stakeholders.
We are also working internationally to advance commitments towards building a more circular economy generally. This means to advancing sustainability in mining operations, chemicals production and use, and air and water quality. Once again, these efforts require good and innovative governance to succeed.
Our fourth priority area is another one where we are advancing the rule of law and the creation of norms - in the final frontier, if you will.
In order to ensure justice, peace and sustainability in CYBERSPACE AND OUTERSPACE, we are working to “Advance Cooperation in Science and Space."
In emerging areas such as the bioeconomy, microelectronics, fusion energy, or artificial intelligence, the United States must work with global partners to foster both groundbreaking innovation and sound norms and governance around the use of these new technologies.
Continuously advocating that openness, security and integrity underpin all international scientific collaboration is vital.
This work also extends to space, where we will ensure that the new space race does not lead to conflict or undue harm to the space environment by signing up more nations across the globe to be members of the Artemis Accords this year.
And finally, we will redouble our efforts this year to embed “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" in the new governance frameworks and norms we are developing and implementing globally.
We must advocate for diverse viewpoints, inclusion all voices, and equitable treatment for those with the least power as we use diplomacy to advance progress on all the issues I’ve just outlined.
We must do all we can to elevate and include the voices of indigenous communities, young people, women, and all historically marginalized groups in global negotiations and institutions.
Altogether, these priorities for the year ahead speak to the urgent nature of the crises we are up against. But they also reflect the commitment that the Biden Administration has made to lead on these issues globally.
Working Together to Advance Agenda
We are working every day to ensure that every human being alive today has clean air, clean water, abundant biodiversity and functioning ecosystems so that we and future generations can continue to live and thrive in better harmony with nature and each other.
Achievement of this goal, however, is not a fait accompli.
To quote the incredible Rachel Carson, “Conservation is a cause that has no end. There is no point at which we will say our work is finished."
Which brings me back to where I started. How can our two agencies find more ways to work together? I believe we can, and we must. And I have 3 very specific suggestions.
The first area is your assistance in prosecuting more nature crimes. We need to create a true dragnet that marshals all the major tools used today, to bring criminals to justice and puts them to the task of global environmental enforcement.
We must hunt down and hold accountable all the bad actors who are stealing the precious natural resources of poor nations, who are plundering the oceans, who are polluting wantonly, who are killing environmental defenders and park rangers at a shocking and horrifying rate, and who are using forced labor to carry out these criminal acts.
The time is now to recommit ourselves to ending crimes against nature because they are, at their core, crimes against humanity.
The second area in which we need your help is in our work to put a dollar value on nature. I know this may seem odd, but I also know that the DOJ is the agency with the most experience in doing this very work.
It has been your groundbreaking work in natural resource damage or “NRD" cases where the most sophisticated work in the government to ensure that the losses of the natural resources that belong to everyone are recouped and the resources are restored.
A few years ago, I worked closely with your attorneys engaged in the DWH oil spill litigation. I know what they did to ensure that BP and the other responsible parties compensated the public for the damages they caused. We need this expertise to help us value nature BEFORE it is lost.
And third, we need your help in the enforcement of environmental justice cases surrounding the pollution coming from plants that are making plastic and other harmful chemicals. These pollution-causing plants are unlikely to be covered under the scope of the global agreement on plastic pollution that we are negotiating. This agreement will cover the plastic itself but not the pollution that is created by the creation of plastic here at home.
Communities with dirty plastic and chemical plants are demanding change. They are feeling the detrimental impacts of these industrial plants, they are angry, and they want justice. You could help them and us by doing more to enforce relevant domestic laws against those who violate them and pollute in the process of plastic manufacturing. That will help to solve a plastic pollution problem here at home, and beyond our capacity at the State Department.
Conclusion
With that, thank you very much for hosting me today. I’m really looking forward to our discussion - and hopefully how we can talk through ways to advance our work together.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
