EARTH DAY

April 20, 2006

Distinguished guests, members of the Embassy community, 36 years after the first Earth Day, we gather once again to renew our commitment to preserve the bounty and beauty of the earth for future generations everywhere and to honor those dedicated individuals who have contributed much to this effort. Citizens in communities across the United States will participate in Earth Day activities on Saturday to mark our country's deep dedication to the environment.

Conservation of the environment can best be accomplished with governments that respect the rights and wishes of its citizens. If environmental crimes, be they the dumping of hazardous wastes or the smuggling of these wastes or endangered species - are not punished, all people will suffer the consequences.

Because of recent events, the international media has become more focused than in recent memory on environmental issues. President Bush's recent budget reflects my government's concern for these issues by including a substantial increase in funding for the expansion and diffusion of the knowledge, technologies, and means to sustain the Earth's vital ecosystems.

Both of our countries are known for long traditions of maintaining remarkably beautiful and varied national parks and preserves. We give credit in the United States to President Theodore Roosevelt for founding our park service when he established numerous parks and wildlife preserves in the United States, making environmental protection and land conservation a priority for our government, and it remains so today. In Argentina, Franciso Moreno, know as “Perito” Moreno founded the Argentina Park Service in 1903 and is considered a hero today for his initiative and generosity.  His spirit set a standard that has been followed by others in Argentina’s history.

In 1997, an agreement was signed between the Argentine and United States National Park Services, which illustrated our longstanding cooperation in environmental management. Since then, we have benefited from a number of activities which have permitted us to share resources and information. We are pleased to have worked together with the Argentine Park Service on issues ranging from protection of migratory birds, to handling more mundane, but also important issues regarding administration of parks.

In January of this year, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced jointly with the Argentine space agency, CONAE, and the World Meteorological Organization, the repositioning of a geostationary satellite that will provide greater coverage of South America. This satellite will help detect environmental disasters and save lives and property by giving Argentina the ability to significantly improve detection of environmental events such as severe storms, floods, drought, landslides, volcanic ash clouds and wildfires.

Along with the United States, Argentina is one of 60 countries that support strengthening satellite detection as part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) initiative sponsored by member countries of the Group on Earth Observations in order to promote free and open access and exchange of environmental satellite and other data. The repositioning of this satellite underlines our commitment to this initiative.

When the Earth Day movement began in the United States in 1970, the environment in our country was, in many cases, damaged and getting worse. Since then, the United States has made substantial progress through the sustained, combined efforts of all elements of our society - government institutions, businesses, civil society organization and individual leadership. As long as dedicated organizations and individuals remain involved in the protection of our environment, I am optimistic about the future or our planet.