TNAG-2693-FCO40-3896-Meetings-and-calls-on-Alastair-Goodlad--Minister-of-State-fo-1993 — Page 68

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concerned that the Convention provided a potential blank cheque.

Preliminary negotiations on a Desertification Convention were now

underway.

20. Mrs Leslie described the three initiatives of the British

Prime Minister at Rio. Out of the Technology Partnership

Initiative would arise a Global Technology Partnership Conference, to be held in Birmingham in March. The Prime

Minister would attend. The International Conference for NGOS

would be held in Manchester in September. It would bring together green organisations such as Friends of the Earth and developmental organisations such as Oxfam. We were grateful for the helpful input provided by the Royal Society to the Advisory Committee on the Darwin Initiative chaired by Sir Crispin -

Tickell.

21.

Sir Michael Atiyah said that UNCED follow-up was of great interest to many Fellows of the Royal Society. He hoped that the Society and the FCO might strengthen their exchanges of views on

this topic, including examination of the ways in which the

Society might provide further input into the UNCED follow-up

process. Mrs Leslie said that the FCO would be more than happy

to develop such a link. Dr McLaren noted that the Darwin

Initiative was primarily about biodiversity. She recalled that,

until a few years ago, academic studies then called systematics

were regarded as old-fashioned. But the subject, with its new

name of biodiversity, was suddenly very popular indeed. Officers

of the Royal Society would meet their counterparts at the US

National Academy of Sciences during their forthcoming visit to

Washington. Biodiversity would be on the agenda of that meeting.

The Royal Society hoped that the US Government would sign the Biodiversity Convention albeit perhaps on the basis of

reservations such as those which the UK had made. The Royal

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