TNAG-2789-FCO40-4028-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1993 — Page 143

5 February 1992

Kate Mayes EPINT

DOE

000/1

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

16

1993

London SWIA ZAH

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

FA

REGISTRY Action Takeri

Telephone: 071-

Dear Kate

DEPENDENT TERRITORIES BOARD OF MANAGEMENT:

ENVIRONMENT

PAPER ON THE

We have been giving further thought to the paper which EPINT/ESED have been tasked to produce for the Board of Management. I thought it might be helpful to set out some objectives for the paper and suggest a possible skeleton.

I see three principal objectives for the paper:

i. To draw the attention of the Board of Management to the growing importance of environmental issues, and the extent to which they impact on the dependent territories.

ii. To draw the attention of governors and others in the DTS to Agenda 21 and the various environmental conventions arising out of Rio and elsewhere, in order to help them identify the scope for participation, their priorities and their requirements for assistance

iii. To ensure that those responsible within Whitehall for the various environment conventions have due regard to the DT angles. This will help us to develop a section on DTs for inclusion in the national report to the new UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

I think it is important for the paper to look beyond the UNCED follow up, and to take account of DT participation in existing conventions both on environmental protection and wildlife issues. I am aware that the scale of DT involvement varies widely across the different conventions and between individual dependencies. It might be useful to annex a table setting out the current position on the major conventions in each DT. This will clearly require contributions from colleagues in other parts of DOE. We have produced the attached summary, which might form a useful starting point for this exercise.

The paper should also set out what assistance we might be able to offer the DTS in meeting the aims of Agenda 21 and their responsibilites under the conventions, technical, financial and other.