Help Imperiled Coral Reefs and Tropical Forests EDITABLE PETITION to Congress,

Help Imperiled Coral Reefs and Tropical Forests EDITABLE PETITION to Congress,

<b><em>My signature here indicates that I have signed this petition.</em></b>

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<b><i>EDITABLE PETITION TEXT:</i>


SUBJECT: Cosponsor the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Act</b>

As a supporter of World Wildlife Fund and as a constituent who is concerned about the protection of vital ecosystems, I urge you to cosponsor the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Act (TFCCA). If you have already cosponsored the bill -- thank you.

This important legislation will help developing countries reduce foreign debt while protecting tropical forests and endangered marine habitats around the world. Protecting tropical forests and coral reefs is critical to addressing climate change, maintaining species diversity, developing life-saving drugs, and establishing more sustainable local economies.

During the last Congress, the TFCCA passed the House of Representatives by voice vote and passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote with 10 cosponsors.

The TFCCA is a routine reauthorization of a successful international conservation program that has enjoyed wide bipartisan support for 10 years. The only substantive change is a very worthwhile expansion of the focus to include the protection and conservation of coral ecosystems.

Coral reefs are often called the "rainforests of the sea." The rate at which we are losing them is alarming. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 60 percent of the world's coral reefs may be destroyed by the year 2050 if the present rate of degradation continues. With Indonesia recently declared eligible for assistance, the passage of this legislation would help ensure that funds could be used to protect the important reefs there and in other nearby "Coral Triangle" countries.

The existing law has generated $175 million (made available over the next 10 to 25 years) to help conserve more than 50 million acres of tropical forests in Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, and Central and South America.

Tropical rain forests are immensely valuable. More than 50 percent of the world's terrestrial species are found in tropical forests and over 2,000 tropical forest plants have been identified by scientists as having anti-cancer properties. Yet these special forests are being felled at staggering rates. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 25.7 million acres of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year from 2000 to 2005.

Reauthorization of the TFCCA will ensure that critically important activities already under way will continue, that threatened tropical forests are protected in many more countries around the world, and that coral reefs are conserved as well.

Please cosponsor and do all you can to support the TFCCA.

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