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Society was collaborating with the Malaysian Government on a
rainforest project in Sabah. She hoped to visit that project in
November.
POPULATION
22.
Sir Francis Graham-Smith said that the Royal Society had.
worked in tandem with the US National Academy of Sciences, and
with the support of eight other science academies, in setting up
a Conference of Science Academies on Population Issues.
A press release was due to issue on the Conference shortly. Eighty academies will be invited to the Conference, which will be held
in New Delhi in October. There will be two and a half days of presentations. The academies are to be invited to sign up to a
single statement, which will thereby have the authority of the
world scientific community. A draft of the statement will be
circulated to participating academies some three or four months
before the Delhi Conference. He was aware that some academies,
such as the Vatican Academy, might have problems with the
statement. Such academies will be encouraged to draft a
statement of their own. The Royal Society was keen that as many
academies as possible be invited to the Conference, but
recognised that only those academies which were not subservient to unpleasant governments should be invited. The Royal Society
was still deliberating over whether invitations should be sent to
the academies in South Africa and Serbia.
23. Mr Bennett said that Lady Chalker was very keen to see
population issues moved up the global agenda. HMG warmly welcomed the forthcoming Conference. He hoped that it would,
inter alia, look at the linkages between population growth, urban
growth and environmental degradation. The ODA gave some priority to population issues support in this field now lay at more than
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