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 been made of the impact of deep-sea mining on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity target to protect 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030.

The UK is a global leader in protecting the ocean and our marine life and works with stakeholders in the UK and partners overseas to help achieve these aims. The Blue Belt Programme continues to support the British Overseas Territories to enhance marine protection and sustainable management. We also continue to help developing countries around the world to protect their marine environments to the benefit of people and livelihoods through our £500 million Blue Planet Fund. And as Ocean co-chair of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People and chair of the Global Ocean Alliance, a group of 75 countries, the UK is committed to the target to conserve and manage at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, a target agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

As a part of our support for strong multilateral action on the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and effective ocean governance across international forums, we will continue to push for the highest possible environmental standards in regulations developed at the International Seabed Authority, the international organisation through which States Parties organise and control deep-sea mining activities. This includes the need for Regional Environmental Management Plans to be in place before any future exploitation takes place.