Wetlands near Kankakee River that exemplify an ecosystem important for sustainable development in the state. Photo by Thomas Rice.
In June 1993, President Clinton created the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD). Composed of 25 leaders from industry and government, and representatives of environmental, labor, and civil rights organizations, the PCSD is charged with preparing a national sustainable development action strategy and with advising the President on matters related to sustainable development.
The sustainable development initiative will detail how the U.S. may provide its citizens, now and in the future, a high-quality life by maintaining ecosystems that provide renewable natural resources and natural services. The ecosystems include agricultural fields, forests, grasslands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, streams, and oceanic and coastal systems. The services these ecosystems provide include production of food, fuel, and materials (including yet-to-be-discovered raw materials for molecular engineering); moderation of floods and erosion; water purification; aesthetic values; outdoor recreation; and preservation of both biodiversity and the processes that generate it.
Wetlands near Kankakee River that exemplify an ecosystem important for
sustainable development in the state. Photo by Thomas Rice.
The work of the Council is accomplished primarily through eight task forces. These include Principles, Goals, and Definitions; Public Linkage, Dialogue, and Education; Population and Consumption; Sustainable Agriculture; Sustainable Communities; Eco-Efficiency; Energy and Transportation; and Natural Resources. The Natural Resources Task Force is developing an integrated vision of what constitutes sustainability for natural resources in the areas of biodiversity, ecosystems, and watersheds, with a focus on issues regarding wetlands, fisheries, agriculture, coastal resources, and forestry. The Task Force is using a process of discovery, employing 14 watershed workshops throughout the country to develop policies to foster, catalyze, and remove impediments to protection and sustainable management of natural resources.
The Natural Resources Task Force also receives advice and information from regional advisory committees. Illinois Natural History Survey aquatic ecologist Richard E. Sparks serves on the Midwest Regional Advisory Committee, which met three times and has submitted information and recommendations to the Task Force. He also served on a National Research Council Committee of the National Academy of Sciences that provided technical advice on a watershed approach to sustainable use and development of natural resources.
The Midwest Advisory Committee held its first meeting at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in July 1994 in association with the International Conference on Sustaining the Ecological Integrity of Large Floodplain Rivers. Two members of the Natural Resources Task Force were also present for special briefings by river scientists and managers from Europe and North America. These scientists discussed effects of river development on ecosystem integrity and the relationship between floodplain development and flood damages in the 1993 Midwest Flood and the 1993-1994 floods in western Europe.
At the November meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, the Advisory Committee heard from agribus-inesses, levee district associations, the navigation industry, farm groups, and state land and water resource managers about the implications of world trade agreements (GATT and NAFTA) for the economies and ecosystems of the Midwest. Chief among the environmental concerns associated with expanded trade is an expected rise in the introduction of nonindigenous pests, including vectors for human diseases.
The final meeting of the Midwest Advisory Committee was in January 1995 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where state agencies, private timber companies, and environmental organizations described several successful, cooperative ventures in management of floodplain forests. An oceanographer and a state fisheries biologist also described the increasingly detrimental effects on the Gulf fisheries and shell fisheries of the excess nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) delivered by the Mississippi River. The nutrient loading is associated with fertilizer use in the Mississippi watershed and diminishment of nutrient retention resulting from wetland drainage in the floodplains and delta.
The draft report of the Council was released for public comment in July and a national action strategy will be presented to President Clinton in October. Anyone wishing to see the draft report or find out more about the Council should contact:
The President's Council on Sustainable Development
730 Jackson Place
Washington, D.C. 20503
Phone: (202) 408-5340
Fax: (202) 408-6839
E-mail: pcsd@igc.apc.org
Richard E. Sparks, Center for Aquatic Ecology
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