Letter from the Parliamentary Relations
Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Second Clerk of the
Committee
FAC OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
INQUIRY: FURTHER
QUESTIONS
There are two outstanding questions on other
Overseas Territories from your letter of 2 May that require a
reply. The Gibraltar questions were answered in my letter of 12
May.
Q3: Does the Government have any plans to
increase the funding available for environmental management in
the Overseas Territories?
The Government has no plans at present to increase
the funding available to the Overseas Territories for environmental
management. Responsibility for environmental issues has been devolved
to the individual Territories. However, some Territories lack
the financial and technical capacity to deliver effective and
sustainable environmental management. The Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DfID)
each provide £500,000 annually to the Overseas Territories
Environment Programme to support the Overseas Territories on sustainable
environmental management. The FCO element of the Overseas Territories
Environment Programme is a ring-fenced allocation within the Department's
Overseas Territories Programme Fund, a £6.5 million programme
that can also be used to support environmental projects in the
Overseas Territories beyond those funded by the Overseas Territories
Environment Programme. One example is FCO funding of an environmental
impact assessment evaluation of the risks to agriculture and the
environment on Pitcairn associated with proposed new routes of
supply ships for Pitcairn through French Polynesia.
The Department for the Environment, Farming
and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) funds a number of programmes from which
several Overseas Territories have benefited. The Darwin Initiative
funds UK expertise to work with local partners on biodiversity
projects in developing countries. It has provided more than £1.5
million for biodiversity projects in the Overseas Territories
since it was set up in 1992. The International Sustainable Development
Fund supports the delivery of the UK's World Summit on Sustainable
Development commitments and has funded £69,000 for projects
in the Overseas Territories since 2006. The Flagship Species Fund,
a joint DEFRA and Fauna and Flora International initiative, provides
practical support for the conservation of endangered species and
habitats in developing countries. It has provided over £29,000
for projects in the Overseas Territories since 2001.
DEFRA is the Whitehall lead on environmental
issues. As Meg Munn said in her oral evidence session to the Committee
on 26 March, there is scope for greater engagement in Overseas
Territory issues by other Whitehall Departments, including by
DEFRA.
Q4: Has Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur
on Torture, provided you with any evidence regarding allegations
that detainees may have been held on Diego Garcia between 2002
and 2003?
Lord Malloch-Brown spoke to Manfred Nowak in
the margins of the UN Human Rights Council on 5 March. He asked
Mr Nowak to provide the Government with any information on allegations
regarding detention on Diego Garcia so that it could be followed
up with the US authorities. To date, Mr Nowak has not provided
us with any evidence regarding these allegations.
21 May 2008
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