HC Deb 16 April 1996 vol 275 c381W
Mr. Barry Field

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if the biodiversity project announced at the Darwin initiative seminar will include a study of the dog whelk. [24936]

Mr. Clappison

None of the 34 Darwin initiative projects announced at last month's seminar to help developing countries protect biodiversity include such a study. "Biodiversity: The UK Steering Group Report," published in December 1995, recommends that the dog whelk should be among 1,253 species whose conservation status should be monitored. The Government expect to publish their response to the report in the late spring of 1996.