Four years ago, Canada, Mexico and the United States deepened economic ties in the region by signing the North American Free Trade Agreement. At the same time that North Americans were creating more integrated commercial markets, the governments acknowledged the profound interdependencies and linkages between and among our environments and their ecological systems. North Americans do not live in isolated, self-contained communities. They share interconnected airsheds, watersheds and continent-wide migratory species corridors.

Two pathbreaking events, the signing of the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), and the creation of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) recognized our common environmental objectives. The Agreement established a broad-based framework for the governments and citizens of North America to take action on some of the most important regional environmental issues. The Commission provides an example to the world of how three inseparably linked, but culturally distinct nations can work together to meet the challenge of achieving sustainable development.

In short order, the CEC has embarked on an active course to achieve the objectives of the Agreement. Some of its accomplishments include:

• Developing regional action plans for the reduction and elimination of widespread and persistent pollutants, starting with DDT, PCBs, chlordane and mercury.
• Publishing important regional environmental information. This includes pollutant emissions data, shown on a regional basis in the CEC's annual Taking Stock report, and an on-line comprehensive summary of the environmental law of the three NAFTA partners.
• Identifying the cause of waterfowl mortality on the Silva Reservoir in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico, and helping to build technical expertise and planning skills that have assisted the state and federal governments in the rehabilitation of this important wildlife area.
• Publishing a report in which leading North American scientists provide ideas on a continental response to the challenge of long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants.
• Working with the three governments to help develop an open and transparent means of conducting transboundary environmental impact assessments for projects that may adversely affect the environment of a neighboring NAFTA country.
• Developing a way that will help people assess the environmental effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
• Promoting cooperation among the environmental enforcement agencies of the three countries by exchanging information on current policies and practices, and by conducting several training exercises.
• Implementing the innovative citizen submission procedure, empowering citizens to allege that a party to the NAFTA is failing in the effective enforcement of its environmental laws.