The Darwin Initiative

A LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE DARWIN ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE WIDER DARWIN INITIATIVE COMMUNITY

I am writing this message to the extended Darwin Initiative family to keep you abreast of our situation during this difficult financial period. Although it will be some time before all questions are resolved, I thought it would help you all to know the current situation as far as I know it.

Yesterday I had a fruitful meeting in London with the Secretariat, and wanted immediately to let you know what I have learnt.

Obviously, we have all been wondering what the consequences of current financial situation would be for the Initiative, and I have spoken in person to several PIs and potential future applicants to quell what I believe are unfounded rumours that the Initiative may be abandoned - on the contrary, all the vibes I've had from Government have been very positive about the Darwin Initiative. I have also been anxious to discover when Defra will be able to launch Round 18, and I now have an answer on that.

Clearly, Departmental budgets are being squeezed as never before. Against that background, Ministers have decided, reluctantly, that although they rate the Initiative highly they will have to defer a decision about the launch of the next round until after the results of the Spending Review are known in the autumn. They do however very much hope to be able to go ahead with it then. My understanding is that we are not being singled out for particular treatment, but rather that almost everything is on hold until the Spending Review is complete.

Inevitably, you will share my disappointment in this postponement, but we may not be surprised. I think it is positive news that I shall be meeting the new Defra Minister on 22 July, and I shall certainly be using that opportunity to explain what a tremendous contribution the Darwin Initiative has made to conservation around the world in the past 17 years.

I will post on the website any further news as it emerges. If you have questions in the meantime, please contact the Secretariat at darwin@defra.gsi.gov.uk, although in terms of the future nobody knows more than I have summarised here.

With best wishes

David Macdonald
CBE, DSc, FRSE

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