Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Foreign Secretary on the role of the UK in demonstrating global leadership on ocean conservation.

Defra, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Government Departments work in partnership to deliver global leadership on ocean conservation. Our commitment to ocean conservation was most recently demonstrated at the Our Ocean Conference in Malta on 5-6 October and the UN Oceans Conference in June. A list of the commitments made by the United Kingdom at the Malta Conference is available at: https://ourocean2017.org/sites/default/files/ooc-2017-list-of-commitments_en.pdf and the UN Ocean Conference at https://oceanconference.un.org/commitments/

Looking forward, we will use the Commonwealth Summit in 2018 to ensure that ocean issues remain central to future work within the Commonwealth and support the initiative of the Commonwealth Secretary General to develop a “blue charter” for the Commonwealth. We will also continue to push for a new international agreement under the UN for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, which will deliver effective protected areas for the world’s oceans.