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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to (a) estimate the economic cost of wildlife crime, (b) record wildlife crime and (c) measure trends in wildlife crime; and whether she has taken steps to address the recommendations in the UN Office on Drugs and Crime report entitled Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit Report: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, published on 6 August 2021.

The UK Government does not hold a figure for the economic cost of wildlife crime in this country but in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2016 report: The rise of environmental crime: A growing threat to natural resources peace, development and security, estimates are made that, globally, poaching and illegal wildlife trade is worth up to £17 billion a year; and natural resources worth as much as USD $91 billion to $258 billion annually are being stolen by criminals, depriving countries of future revenues and development opportunities. This includes illegal logging and fishing.

In terms of recording wildlife crime and measuring trends in wildlife crime, at a UK level the Office for National Statistics publishes police-recorded crime statistics, including statistics on wildlife crimes, where available. However, most wildlife crimes are not categorised as notifiable so there is no obligation for UK police forces to report on them. This makes it more challenging to measure trends in wildlife crime and gauge its true extent. Any decision to make offences notifiable sits with the National Crime Registrar at the Home Office. The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), funded partly by Defra and the Home Office, gathers intelligence from a number of organisations in addition to police forces and Border Force. This intelligence informs a Strategic Assessment of wildlife crime in the UK, which is produced every two years and contributes to the setting of the UK’s wildlife crime priorities.

With regard to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report (published on 21 December 2021), the Government welcomed this piece of work and the fact it recognised the UK's global leadership in fighting wildlife and forestry crime. We invited the UN to undertake this analysis and we are proud to be the first G7 country to request this assessment. We have carefully considered all the recommendations of the report and they are informing our work to help us build on the positive progress we have already made in tackling wildlife crime. This will include strategic engagement with our partners that have responsibilities where individual recommendations are concerned such as the devolved administrations, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the NWCU. Progress has already been made in response to the report. For example, in 2022 Defra more than doubled its funding of the NWCU from a total of £495,000 over the three previous years to £1.2 million for the three-year period of 2022-25. Additionally, Border Force has increased numbers in its team specialising in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Defra is not under any obligation to formally respond to the UNODC's assessment and has no plans to do so, but we will identify where we can act, including with stakeholders, to strengthen the UK's approach to tackling wildlife and forestry crime.