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 10 May 2018 to Question 140661 on seas and oceans: for what reasons the Government abstained on the vote on motion 053 on increasing marine protected area coverage for effective marine biodiversity conservation at the 2016 Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation.

The Congress is the governing body of the IUCN but its motions are advisory in nature and are not legally binding on any of its members. The globally agreed target, under both the Convention on Biological Diversity and under Sustainable Development Goal 14, for MPAs and other effective area based management tools is 10% by 2020. Negotiations on revision to this target will conclude under the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2020. The UK has in excess of 23% of its waters within MPAs, with further expansion planned.