Marine Protected Areas

(asked on 25th March 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's 24 September 2018 press release, and to the establishment of the marine protected area around Ascension Island, what further steps he is taking to ensure that 30 per cent of the world's oceans are protected by 2030.


Answered by
Thérèse Coffey Portrait
Thérèse Coffey
This question was answered on 1st April 2019

At the United Nations General Assembly last September, the UK Government called for 30% of the world’s oceans to be protected within Marine Protected Areas by 2030. We are working both domestically and internationally to achieve this goal.

At home, we already have 314 marine protected sites, covering 24% of UK waters. In addition, we have consulted on a further 41 Marine Conservation Zones. Sites to be designated will be in place by 7 June. Around the UK Overseas Territories, including Ascension Island, we are on track to deliver over 4 million km2 of protected ocean by 2020. Overall more than 50% of all UK waters are set to be in Marine Protected Areas.

In the 2019 Spring Statement, the UK Government announced that it is backing an Ascension Island bid to protect 100% of its offshore waters. Ascension Island plans to designate over 445,00km2 of its waters as a fully protected no-take Marine Protected Area.

Internationally, the UK is working together with key stakeholders and other countries to secure agreement to a new global 30by30 target to be included as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 agenda for agreement at the Convention of Parties in China in 2020. Agreement of the new Implementing Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction is crucial for this target to be achieved. The UK is pushing hard for the new agreement to be completed in 2020.

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