HC Deb 13 June 2002 vol 386 cc1369-70W
Norman Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which global wildlife projects her Department has funded in 2001–02. [61169]

Mr. Meacher

In addition to funding for the Darwin Initiative, my Department paid a total of £1.212 million in 2001–02 on assessed contributions to a number of international conservation Conventions and Agreements, and on voluntary payments to those conventions' grants funds to finance specific initiatives. The projects supported are listed below.

United Nations Environment Programme

  • Great Ape Survival Project (GrASP)
  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
  • Bushmeat working group
  • Seahorse workshop
  • Range State meeting for the hawksbill turtle

Convention on Migratory Species and Related Agreements

  • Contribution to the costs of a range state meeting and set-up costs for the Memorandum of Understanding for the conservation and management of marine turtles in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia
    • 1370W
  • The production of a brochure on Bactrian camels
  • Guidelines on avoidance of introduction of non-native migratory waterbirds
  • A study on the potential impacts of marine fisheries on migratory waterbirds
  • Rehabilitation of important sites for migratory waterbirds, which have been degraded by invasive species of aquatic weeds
  • Surveys on cetacean abundance and seismic surveys have been
  • supported under the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS)
  • A project to establish effective national bat conservation and monitoring programmes in Romania and Moldova under the Agreement on the Conservation of Bats in Europe (Eurobats).

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

  • Western Palaearctic Waterbird Monitoring Programme
  • Contribution to the Ramsar small grants fund

IUCN—the World Conservation Union

  • Species Specialist Group on African Elephants
  • Species Specialist Group on Sharks

In addition we made contributions to the costs of the General Assembly of the Global Tiger Forum and to the Flagship Species Fund.