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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her policies in tackling the illegal wildlife trade.

The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade to benefit biodiversity, local communities, and the economy, while protecting global security. As part of this commitment, we are increasing our funding and will invest a further £30 million between 2022 and 2025. This includes through Defra’s grant scheme, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, which to date has supported 136 projects in over 60 countries, including projects to change behaviours, strengthen wildlife crime legislation, and help communities to protect the wildlife they rely on for their livelihoods.

We recognise the importance of regularly assessing the impact and effectiveness of our efforts to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. Most recently, in May 2022, an independent evaluation was carried out on Defra’s Biodiversity Funds, including the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. The evaluation found strong alignment with the aims of various Multilateral Environmental Agreements, particularly the Convention on Biodiversity, and that projects are highly aligned with the needs of the countries they operate in. The full report can be found at:

https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/assets/uploads/Monitoring-Evaluation-and-Learning-Report_Publishable.pdf