§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about British contributions to the tropical forestry action plan for each year since 1989; and what assessment he has made of its effectiveness in protecting tropical and other forestry resources.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydBilateral aid expenditure under agreed tropical forestry action plans by financial year since 1989 was:
£ 1989–90 1,688,454 1990–91 2,586,218 1991–92 4,767,103 We also contributed £121,493 in 1990–91, and £92,473 in 1991–92, towards the costs of personnel working in the tropical forest action programme co-ordinating unit and in the Food and Agriculture Organisation investment centre on TFAP-related work.
We assess the effectiveness of our contributions to the TFAP through regular monitoring and review of our projects. We believe they are effective in helping recipient countries manage their forests sustainably.
We also assess the progress of the TFAP generally through attendance at international meetings such as the tropical forestry advisers' group. We have worked hard in recent years to improve the TFAP's overall performance.