§ Ms WalleyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on the United Kingdom's progress in the implementation of(a) the Convention on Biodiversity and (b) the principles of the 1996 Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine and their incorporation into United Kingdom legislation. [17803]
§ Mr. Battle(a) The United Kingdom is undertaking a range of activities at home and abroad to work towards the three goals of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: to conserve biodiversity, ensure its sustainable use, and achieve the equitable sharing of the resultant benefits. Domestically, a Government-led partnership is implementing our national biodiversity action plan, with individual action plans for a range of species and habitats, and for particular localities, building on existing domestic and European legislation. Internationally, we recently hosted a conference to help Central and Eastern European countries plan and implement their own biodiversity strategies, and through both our general aid programme and the Darwin Initiative, we continue to support developing countries' efforts to meet their Convention obligations. Our first national report under the Convention, due by the end of this year, will record these efforts in detail.
(b) The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine contains a wide range of provisions covering a number of complex ethical and legal issues. The Government is considering the implications of the provisions carefully. No decisions on a timescale for signature or ratification have been made.