The Darwin Initiative

Update from Darwin Committee Chairman

Dear Darwin Family,

Last Monday I had a very useful meeting with the Defra officials who are working hard to resolve the uncertainties regarding the Darwin Initiative budget. You will appreciate that the Darwin Advisory Committee has been very distressed that these uncertainties necessitated postponement of the next grant round, and we are keenly aware of the blow that this represents to the conservation community. I wanted to let you know that I am working closely with Defra officials both to understand the problems, and to speed their solution. Furthermore, following my useful meeting last Monday, I wanted to up-date PIs swiftly of my current understanding of the situation.

In brief, and to start on a positive note, the Darwin Initiative remains in an almost unique position among Defra's biodiversity budgets in that our allocation has not been cut, and I remain optimistic that it will continue unscathed due to the universally high regard in which the Initiative is held. Contrary to some rumours that have been reported to me by PIs, all the contact I have had personally with Defra, including Ministers, unambiguously suggests that government deeply values the initiative, appreciates its enormous value and wishes to see it flourish.

As you may know, the current budgetary problem has arisen because the legitimate (indeed essential) process of over-programming was miscalculated and this was exacerbated by poor financial control. A symptom of the latter is that many invoices which could have been afforded had they been submitted during the correct year have not been submitted by grantees until after the budget for that year had been closed (and this backlog has been allowed to worsen over many years). This is not the place to explore these issues in more detail, not least because Defra’s investigation is anyway still incomplete. Suffice it to say that Defra is exploring the financial history, and systems are being devised to minimise the risk of such mistakes in future. Although hitherto the Darwin Advisory Committee (which evaluates projects and strives to maximise the scientific quality and conservation deliverables of the programme) has not been involved in these matters of financial control, I am working hard with Defra officials in the effort to minimise the damage done by this set-back and to ensure that the considerable wisdom and experience of the Advisory Committee is used in helping Defra devise better systems for the future. This will require tighter procedures from Defra and more disciplined conduct by grantees, and much more financial transparency between the two.

I think it is essential that Defra's new accounting system and the management of the Initiative’s budgets should in future be highly transparent. The various measures currently being discussed should allow us to deliver a worst case of being fully back on schedule and budget so that we can call for the next full round of proposals in June 2008, with these grants being awarded in March 2009 (along with post project awards). There is also a possibility of a better case (to be apparent by Christmas 2007) that we may be in a position to invite applications for post project funding in January 2008.

I expect a full exploration of the accounting issues to occur at the next meeting of the Darwin Advisory Committee on 9th November. I am also arranging a meeting with the new Minister, Joan Ruddock. It is my intention to present an argument to her that the total budget of the Initiative be increased significantly. I should also emphasise that I was impressed, as always, by the fierce commitment that Defra officials showed to protecting and fostering the Initiative when we met. While there is no escaping the fact that the current situation is deeply regrettable, I think we should be thankful to have caught it now rather than later, and I believe there are prospects of the Darwin Initiative emerging stronger, with better processes, modernised mechanisms and perhaps even stronger governmental support.

Yours sincerely

David Macdonald

Chairman, Darwin Advisory Committee

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