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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of Official Development Assistance is being made available to help reduce the reliance of communities in developing countries on poaching.

The UK Government is at the forefront of international efforts to protect endangered animals and plants from poaching and illegal trade. Defra’s current Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) budget is approximately 7% of Defra’s SR15 ODA budget. This includes an uplift of £2.5m from FCDO in 2019 and 2020.

In addition, at the UN Climate Action Summit (UNCAS) in September 2019, the PM announced a new £220 million international biodiversity fund, which will include £30 million in further funding to tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade. This commitment almost doubles Defra’s IWT budget over the next three years. FCDO have also committed a further £3.5m uplift to Defra’s IWT budget over the next Spending Review period.

Defra has also invested £92m into the Global Environment Facility (GEF) during the SR15 period. The GEF is a multilateral organisation that delivers a wide range of programmes to tackle global environmental issues including the Global Wildlife Program which is a global partnership on wildlife conservation and crime prevention for sustainable development.