Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Colombian counterpart on tackling (a) illegal mining, (b) cocaine production and (c) the trafficking of animals in Colombia.

UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise environmental issues, as well as specific cases of concern, directly with the Colombian Government and in multilateral fora. Most recently, the UK's Minister for the Environment, Lord Goldsmith, discussed our concerns around environmental crime during his visit to Colombia 5-8 October.

Through the UK's £68m CSSF (Conflict, Stability and Security Fund) programming in support of peace and stabilisation, we continue to support the elements of the peace agreement related to reducing coca production and trafficking. This has included a contribution to a $2 million multi-donor project for crop substitution and food security, as well as funding the provision of technical advisers to the Colombian Government office overseeing this work.

The British Government is at the forefront of international efforts to protect endangered animals from poaching and illegal trade, and we are committed to supporting Colombia to host the Second High Level Conference of the Americas on Illegal Wildlife Trade. This builds on the ground-breaking conference series, which began in London in 2014, has secured ambitious agreements from governments to take urgent, coordinated action against the illegal wildlife trade.