Tim Gallaudet & Lexa Skrivanek
The ongoing domestic narrative contrasting the approaches of the Trump and Biden Administrations concerning environmental issues is overshadowing an important fact: The United States continues to achieve numerous environmental successes, which serve as a critical soft power weapon against China. Our leadership in environmental quality, conservation, and science provides a powerful counterweight to China’s increasingly malign influence and has made the U.S. a preferred partner over the People’s Republic of China in view of its extensive environmental abuses.
Simply contrasting the activities of China and the U.S. in a variety of environmental indicators paints a compelling picture.
Between 2014-2017, a global increase in the ozone-depleting gas CFC-11 was observed, and analysis determined the source to be centered in Eastern China, proving Beijing to be in violation of the Montreal Protocol despite falsely reporting otherwise. The U.S., on the other hand, has followed the agreement and continues to lead the world in monitoring ozone-depleting gases and calling on China to meet its obligations.
China emits more greenhouse gases than the rest of the developed combined, more than tripling emissions over the past three decades. Starkly contrasting this is U.S. energy-related emissions which have decreased by 21 percent between 2005-2020.
China is a leading source of marine plastic debris. The presence of plastics in the ocean costs the maritime, fishing, and tourism industries billions of dollars every year and threatens food security and public health. Multiple U.S. agencies work to prevent and remove marine debris domestically, and in 2020, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of the U.S. Federal Strategy for Addressing the Global Issue of Marine Litter – the first whole of government approach to the problem.
China's Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities are destroying global fish stocks and damaging the economies of other nations. IUU fishing by China’s distant water fishing fleet (DWF) is so severe that it is deemed a national security threat. The Coast Guard, NOAA, and the State Department co-chair an interagency working group directed by the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2019 to coordinate the U.S. response to IUU fishing, and this was supported by interagency actions and agreements of both the previous and current Administrations.
One of the most egregious impacts of China’s One Belt One Road initiative is the destruction of coral reefs in the South China Sea to illegally build islands for military bases. This practice is destroying critical fishery habitats for developing nations in the region, negatively affecting water quality, polluting adjacent land, and leading to wildlife mortality of protected species. Conversely, the U.S. is working to protect and restore coral reefs in U.S. territorial waters and to support efforts to restore coral in the Pacific and Caribbean. This work is critical to the tourism and fisheries economies of U.S. partners in those regions.
Between 2018-2021, the U.S. has been promoting environmental science and conservation partnerships in a wide range of international activities. Events the authors were directly involved with include:
The 2nd Arctic Science Ministerial in Berlin, where the U.S.’s commitment to Arctic observations, research, and resilience was reaffirmed. As China seeks to expand its Arctic presence and influence as a self-proclaimed near-Arctic state, continued U.S. participation in the environmentally focused working groups of the Arctic Council will be essential to prevent the abuses described above from occurring in the region.
The 11th Conference of the Pacific Community in New Caledonia, where ocean science and stewardship were the main themes of the event, and the U.S. presence and interventions assured our Pacific Island Country (PIC) partners that the U.S. would support their goals for sustainability.
The 2019 Pacific Island Forum in Tuvalu, where the U.S. delegation affirmed our commitment to the Indo-Pacific environment during the conference and in sidebar meetings with the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the President of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Other PIC engagement regarding environmental sustainability in 2019 included a listening session with PIC Ambassadors in Washington DC and the meeting of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force in Palau, where the Task Force chairs met with the President of Palau to express the U.S.’s commitment to expand support to the island nation’s coral reef marine sanctuary.
The 2020 Pacific Risk Management Ohana (PRiMO) in Hawaii, where the conference sponsors held sidebar meetings with the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands and the Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa.
Virtual engagements due to COVID between included meetings between U.S. interagency leaders and Indonesian and Australian counterparts, a discussion with 12 PIC Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives, as well as a signing ceremony with the President of Palau for an agreement on Marine Protected Areas.
While U.S. competition with China is almost always assessed through military, technology, and economic terms, environmental activities such as those described here have proved to be equally important. By boosting the international programs of U.S. environmental agencies, we can build up our arsenal of this soft power secret weapon that is winning the hearts and minds of critical partner nations
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