conversation between three friends on develop an informal TV program of one to three minutes to help people understand the consequences of deforestation
Answers
The Congo Basin Forest is the world's second-largest intact tropical forest, after the Amazon, that is. It is 700,000 square miles--the size of California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah combined. Last year, the United States launched, as you heard a moment ago, the Congo Basin Forest Partnership with 29 partners, including the Jane Goodall Institute. Jane's institute is helping to protect animals at risk from being hunted for bush meat, especially the Congo Basin's chimpanzees, gorillas, and elephants.
The Forest Partnership initiative is close to my heart. I visited Gabon last year after the Johannesburg summit. And in that meeting in Gabon I demonstrated our dedication to this partnership. I also had a chance to walk through one of the forests and see the treasure that we are protecting and to understand the importance of what we were doing. I must say, however, that it was a bit of a disappointment. It was a nice walk; it was a beautiful forest--I was expecting to see animals, but my security people were there--(laughter)--and they are very good. I saw not one animal, not one insect, not one reptile--nothing. (Laughter.) They had been cleared for a mile around. Nevertheless, I know they are there.