Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made on international steps to tackle plastic pollution in the oceans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
At the recent Our Ocean conference the UK made several voluntary commitments to help tackle marine plastic pollution. These included signing up to the UN’s Clean Seas campaign, the Global Partnership on Marine Litter and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. These programmes aim to transform habits, practices, standards and policies around the globe to reduce marine plastic pollution and the harm it causes.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to protect elephants against the illegal wildlife trade.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Tackling the illegal wildlife trade and bringing an end to elephant poaching is a priority for this government.
We are taking practical action to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, particularly through the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. Many projects funded through the challenge fund work to protect elephants from poaching. Defra also funds the British Army training for park ranges in key African countries. UK law enforcement agencies are active around the world, sharing expertise and intelligence to help tackle poaching and trafficking.
Here in the UK there are strict rules controlling the sale of ivory. This is backed up by robust enforcement from Border Force and the National Wildlife Crime Unit. The UK prohibits all commercial trade in raw ivory of any age, going further than the EU regulations. We are considering options for taking further action to address the UK ivory market.