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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to preserve biodiversity in the Crown dependencies.

The Crown Dependencies are responsible for their own environmental policy, including biodiversity. Defra provides supportive expertise to the Crown Dependencies where relevant, including recently regarding the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15.

More broadly, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) liaises with the relevant Crown Dependencies concerning data on biodiversity and nature conservation for inclusion in UK National Reports for several multi-lateral environmental agreements where ratification of these treaties has been extended to them. The Crown Dependencies are also part of the JNCC's UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies Research and Training Steering Group. Recently Jersey and the Isle of Man have taken part in workshops looking at the implementation of the Emerald Network in the UK and discussions were held with Guernsey on the application of ecosystem accounts.