Christopher Coons

I would appreciate your keeping up with me on that development.

If you are really serious about countering China, and we all are, you have to show up.

What I mostly hear when I travel to other countries... is they want more.

The consequences of that I think would be grave.

I think it is essential that, in the long run, conservation, the protection of biodiversity, wildlife, be seen as a central part of competent development strategies, by nations all over the world, if that ultimately, not in competition…

Thank you. Thank you, all. I look forward to our ongoing partnership in this.

Because focusing on human development also means bringing those on board as well.

The critical role of having, not just a seat at the table, but a driving part of how things are designed and led.

The importance of long-term funding; the importance of clear metrics and accountability that have conservation and biodiversity goals, as well as economic, improvement, and stability goals.

I will defer to Senator Graham.

Let me ask one brief follow-up question, then I am going to defer to my Ranking Member.

The law that Senator Flake and I worked on in 2016, the End Wildlife Trafficking Act, authorized the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking.

I couldn't agree with you more. That the core challenges today, the vast majority of the population looks at a chicken, and says: I see value, I can sell eggs, I can eat the chicken, I can sell the chicken.

Thank you, Senator Schatz.

In discussing this with Senator Graham, and with others on this Committee...

I couldn't agree more with your three central points.

The fortress model of conservation has demonstrably failed, and we need a human-centered and indigenously informed model.

The proposed bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Coons and Senator Graham, offers all three.

Conservation can help reduce the risk of conflict over natural resources.

Conservation can also prevent illegal exploitation of nature which funds conflict and threatens security.

We can do much better than this.

The proposed bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Coons and Senator Graham, offers all three.

I just had a chance to be with David Beasley, along with the Vice Chair, the group of us who spent last week looking at food security.

We do have real challenges. I look forward to working with you on them.

We are hopeful that the agreement will proceed, as it is meant to, there really should be an infinite extension that should not be time bound.