§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Her Majesty's Government will take steps to seek to ensure that the World Bank does not make loans for projects which, if carried out, would be likely to cause environmental or rain forest damage.
§ Mr. RaisonI think the World Bank has an increasing awareness of the environmental implications of its projects, particularly involving tropical rain forests. We are in constant touch with the bank on its policies in this area.
The World Bank was a co-sponsor, with the United Nations development programme and others, of a study on rain forests published in October. We expect the bank to take full account of the findings of this study.