Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2021 to Question 25745 on Animal Products: Imports, what plans he has to incorporate the 2016 CITES resolution that well managed and sustainable trophy hunting is consistent with and contributes to species conservation, in any future domestic legislation on trophy hunting.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are mindful of the importance of protecting our most threatened and endangered species and aware of the recommendations contained in CITES Resolution 17.9 on trade in hunting trophies of endangered species.
This Government is committed to halting and reversing global biodiversity loss and that is why we will ensure that our approach on hunting trophies will be comprehensive, robust and effective and will deliver the change we promised to help protect thousands of species worldwide. We will set out our plans soon.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that trophy hunting does not limit the ability of (a) private and (b) public landowners to engage in the culling of domestic deer stocks; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Deer management in England and Wales is covered by the Deer Act (1991) which sets out, for example, close seasons and prohibited methods of control. This legislation aims to manage wild deer to achieve the best combination of benefits for the economy, environment, people and communities for now and for future generations. In addition, as set out in the recent English Tree Action Plan, we will develop a national deer management strategy for England.
This Government has also committed to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered species. Our approach will be comprehensive, robust and effective and will deliver the change we promised to help protect thousands of species worldwide. This action will not prevent landowners from culling deer in the UK. We will be setting out plans soon
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made for the implications of his policies of the 2016 CITES resolution that well managed and sustainable trophy hunting is consistent with and contributes to species conservation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government takes the conservation of endangered species very seriously, which is why we will be banning the import of hunting trophies from endangered species. Our approach will be comprehensive, robust and effective and will deliver the change we promised to help protect thousands of species worldwide. We held a consultation on this issue between 2 November 2019 and 25 February 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the publication of the Government response. We will be setting out our plans soon.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide a definition of sustainable abstraction in respect of removing water from chalk steam (a) aquifers and (b) rivers; and what criterion his Department takes into account in protecting such water environments from environmental damage.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restoring England’s internationally important chalk streams is a Government priority.
The Environment Agency (EA) regulates abstraction from chalk streams and aquifers in the same way as from any other source. It set out its approach in a recent policy paper, Managing Water Abstraction.
An abstraction licence is unsustainable if:
For rivers, the EA uses the Environmental Flow Indicator as the default flow required to support Good Ecological Status in water bodies and to prevent deterioration. For existing abstraction, local ecological evidence is used to show whether an abstraction is causing environmental damage.
For groundwater, the EA uses 4 tests to assess groundwater bodies:
The EA is developing long term plans to reduce our reliance on chalk streams. The publication of the CaBA Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy later this year will set out recommendations on how to restore and protect England’s chalk streams. The EA is committed to working with all chalk stream stakeholders to better understand what more it can do in both the short and long term to make a difference on the ground.