a 1986 request for a helicopter). We have turned this down as we cannot provide aircraft to Zimbabwe for any purpose as OECD aid donors we have agreed not to supply aircraft under tied aid.
11.
Also in March the Prime Minister received a request from Charlie
Hewat and Julie Edwards, two participants in the UK to Zimbabwe Cycle Ride "Ride for the Rhino" (3-24 September 1988) to write a few lines of support for their book on conservation. The PM was pleased to accede to the request, saying that "their efforts reminded us all of our joint responsibility for the preservation of our common heritage of wildlife.
Unfortunately, a responsibility which knows no national frontiers".
some confusion has arisen over sponsorship of the trip and the two
participants clearly feel let down by one of their major sponsors, Armstrong World Industries. ODA has not been directly involved with this, but the ride and the two girls' disappointment attracted quite a lot of publicity, so it is possible that it may be raised.
12. This year we have agreed a £1.2 million block grant to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for the co-funding of projects to conserve natural resources, particularly forests which are important wildlife habitats. It includes £500,000 to the Korup Forestry Project in
Cameroon.
This species-rich rainforest is threatened by hunting and human settlement with special danger to the elephant, forest leopard (and the elegant drill). WWF's plan is to protect and manage Korup by integrating it into the development plans for the region.
13.
We are
aware that Adam Faith (in conjunction with Frankfurt Zoo) has proposed to the Tanzanian Government a project to protect rhinos by relocating them in "sanctuaries". The Tanzanian Government have
We believe that the promised a considered reply in the next few months. WWF (and possibly the Tanzanians) have some misgivings about the project as currently proposed, which we share. For example, it plans to move the whole rhino population out of the Selous area, where WWF already have a