5 3 2 7 8 1 231 59 U-S- tate 99 53 3313 Wit 3915 United Slates Department of State Washington D C 20520 May 16 1989 '8911119 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION MEMORANDUM I IN 3_ SE5 17$ TO The Secretary FROM OBS - Richard J smith ARA Egg SUBJECT Preparations for an International Conference on the EEA Environment REVIEW AUTHORITY Adolph Eisner Senior 13A Reviewer SUMEARY i- The OBS Policy Coordinating Committee is reviewing a i 3_ proposal to meet the President's campaign pledge to host an 419 environmental conference The proposal calls for a major conference to be held in 1991 focussing on a range envaronmental issues We have reservations and will seek to the issue open for further study J 33 In the courSe of the campaign then Presidential candidate Bush noted that 'in my first year in office I will convene a global conference-on the environment-absthe White House All will be welcome--and indeed all nations will be needed He added 'The agenda will be clear We will talk about global warming We will talk about acid rain We will talk about saving our oceans and preventing the loss of tropical forests And we will act In the weeks since President Bush took office we Bill Reilly at EPA and several White House offices have thought hard about how best to honor this pledge Options considered have included -- A large high-level conference on a general -environmenta1 theme A smaller more focussed conference of environmental experts and' Participation by the President in a major scheduled international environmental event None of those proposals has been judged acceptable However we have worked with the NSC staff and EPA under the auspices of the new 033 Policy Coordinating Committeeg i i develo alternative initiatives UNCLASSIFIED us Department of State Casedammaqmseg Doc'No C65327812 Date 211ED U S Department of State Doc No 005327812 Date 03 03 2015 CONFIDENTIAL The proposal now under consideration would have the President announce -- possibly at the Summit -- that he will host a major environmental conference in Washington in the Spring of 1991 Key representatives of world governments international organizations environmental groups and industry would be invited to attend This conference would focus on general environmental issues and would be the culmination of one or more initiatives the President would launch at this year s Economic Summit Several of the President's Summit initiatives could require conferences in their own right global change pollution prevention and the health of the oceans A meeting on climate change is already scheduled for October A pollution prevention conference and a state of the oceans conference could be held in the Spring and Fall of 1990 reapectively These conferences would be 'feeders' leading to the President's conference itself in 1991 Work underway in various international forums could feed into the 1991 conference Holding the conference in 1991 would also allow ample time for preparation This approach will be reviewed with all concerned agencies this week in our Policy Coordinating Committee Informal soundings so far suggest it has some support Officials at the assistant secretary level in several agencies agree it would fulfill the President's conference commitment We are concerned however that a large meeting bringing together groups with disparate_yiews could be difficult to manage and may not produce the desired outcome We will express re servations at this week's FCC and will seek to keep the issue open for further consideration Whatever the decision on this initiative a Presidential call for new work that draws on the resources of multilateral organizations should be backed by a commitment to meet our financial obligations to international organizations and provide additional resources as required If the 0 3 is to host one or more environmental conferences or contribute to international organizations for this purpose we will also require budgetary allocations beyond current projections Drafted Acting Clearances EB ERF JFerriter 10 5Volgelgesang E CRies - Library DorothyH 213 CONFIDENTIAL UNCLASSIFIED US Department _of State Doc No 005327812 Date 03 03 2015 National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994‐7000 Fax 202 994‐7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu
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