Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department held discussions at the recent North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation on protecting salmon stocks as they migrate to feeding grounds in the North Atlantic; and if she will press for international agreement on such protections.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As a contracting party to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO), the UK took part in the organisation’s annual meeting in June. Salmon migrating to the North Atlantic are protected by NASCO’s prohibition of fishing salmon beyond coastal States’ jurisdictions with the exception of the waters off West Greenland, where salmon fishing is capped at 27 tonnes per annum until 2025.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help support Royal Botanic Gardens to protect rare flowers at risk of being endangered.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra provides grant in aid funding which supports RBG Kew in delivering its statutory responsibilities under the National Heritage Act. These responsibilities include to ‘care for their collections of plants, preserved plant material, other objects relating to plants, books and records’ and to ‘carry out investigation and research into the science of plants and related subjects, and disseminate the results of the investigation and research’
Kew’s living collection houses many rare species, some of which are extinct in the wild. Approximately 90 plants and 24 fungi were newly named in 2022 by Kew and partners alone, of which many are extremely rare species threatened with extinction.
Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency provide funding to Kew to support their work, as the UK CITES Scientific Authority for plants, in assessing and advising on the sustainability of international trade in over 30,000 plant species listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Kew are working to identify and map Tropical Important Plant Areas in critical sites for plant conservation across the tropics. This project’s work in the UK’s overseas territories is part funded by the Darwin Plus scheme.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission Voluntary Grant Contribution.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK has a track record of providing voluntary contributions to the International Whaling Commission, in support of the primary global body with the competence and mandate for the conservation and management of cetaceans. The 2020 UK voluntary contribution of £60,000, along with contributions from other parties, has assisted in the continuation of the ‘IWC Bycatch Mitigation initiative’, and delivery of the ‘IWC Ship Strikes Work Plan 2022-24’. The Ship Strikes Work Plan was successfully published in 2022 and work is underway to identify and implement a range of measures to reduce ship-strikes, including through collaboration with the International Maritime Organization and other relevant international bodies. We will continue to support the important work of the IWC to uphold the moratorium on whaling and deliver on its extensive conservation work programme.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many domestically reared ducks have been released for the shooting industry; what assessment they have made of the conditions in which such birds live; what assessment they have made of the risk of avian flu and other diseases following these releases; what drug treatments are used for these diseases; and what assessment they have made of the risks these treatments represent.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra does not hold data on the number of ducks released for shooting. Defra publishes all its risk assessments on GOV.UK as part of the ‘Animal diseases: international and UK monitoring’ collection and continues to monitor the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in both wild and kept birds, working with the game farming sector and conservation bodies, and will keep the need for further risk assessments under review. No products have a market authorisation for treatment of HPAI in poultry (including ducks reared for shooting) and vaccination of poultry against avian influenza is not permitted.
No recent assessment has been made of the conditions in which such birds live. The welfare of ducks while they are being reared for shooting is protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (until such time as they are released in the wild), which makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal. In addition, the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes provides advice on husbandry, housing and management.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if he will support the agenda item proposed by France, Chile, Palau and Vanuatu, entitled Establishment of a general policy by the Assembly related to the conservation of the marine environment, including in consideration of the effects of the two-year rule, for the Assembly meeting of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority between 24 and 28 July 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK have noted the late proposal of the agenda item from France, Chile, Palau, and Vanuatu at the Assembly meeting of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority and are currently considering the UK position. The UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep-sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep-sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards have been developed by the International Seabed Authority and are in place. The UK's approach is precautionary and conditional.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government will support the agenda item proposed by France, Chile, Palau and Vanuatu entitled Establishment of a general policy by the Assembly related to the conservation of the marine environment, including in consideration of the effects of the two-year rule at the Assembly meeting of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK have noted the late proposal of the agenda item from France, Chile, Palau, and Vanuatu at the Assembly meeting of the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority and are currently considering the UK position. The UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep-sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep-sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards have been developed by the International Seabed Authority and are in place. The UK's approach is precautionary and conditional.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has been made of the impact of deep-sea mining on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity target to protect 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK is a global leader in protecting the ocean and our marine life and works with stakeholders in the UK and partners overseas to help achieve these aims. The Blue Belt Programme continues to support the British Overseas Territories to enhance marine protection and sustainable management. We also continue to help developing countries around the world to protect their marine environments to the benefit of people and livelihoods through our £500 million Blue Planet Fund. And as Ocean co-chair of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People and chair of the Global Ocean Alliance, a group of 75 countries, the UK is committed to the target to conserve and manage at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, a target agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
As a part of our support for strong multilateral action on the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and effective ocean governance across international forums, we will continue to push for the highest possible environmental standards in regulations developed at the International Seabed Authority, the international organisation through which States Parties organise and control deep-sea mining activities. This includes the need for Regional Environmental Management Plans to be in place before any future exploitation takes place.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been any increase in the volume of plastic and polystyrene pollution washed up on the UK’s beaches (1) in the last 12 months, and (2) over the last five years; and what steps they have taken, together with international partners, to mark World Ocean Day on 8 June, particularly with regard to tackling plastic waste in the world’s oceans.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government funds the Marine Conservation Society to record litter from sections of our coast which helps us monitor the levels and trends of plastic pollution. We monitor the current status of beach litter abundance over a three-year period for data reliability, so we cannot provide an accurate trend for the last 12 months. Over the last five years, the total litter count on British beaches has decreased by approximately 7 items / 100m per year. However, we know that plastic and polystyrene fragments are the most commonly found items, with an average of 45.5 pieces found on every 100m of coastline for the period 2020 – 2022. This data is used in combination with other monitoring data to measure the impact of our policies and inform our decisions about how to tackle marine litter.
We have already banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, reduced the use of single-use carrier bags, and restricted the supply of plastic straws and plastic-stemmed cotton buds and banned the supply of plastic drink stirrers. From October 2023, we will ban the supply of certain types of polystyrene food and drink containers, single-use plastic cutlery, single-use plastic balloon sticks and ban the supply of single-use plastic plates, bowls and trays to the end user, working towards our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.
We are also playing our part internationally. One of four themes of our £500m Blue Planet Fund, launched in 2021 to support developing countries protect and enhance the marine environment and reduce poverty, is to tackle marine pollution and litter. Under this fund we're supporting countries to accelerate the transition towards more inclusive circular economies, working with the Global Plastic Action Partnership to establish diverse, multistakeholder platforms across the world, and we’ve supported over 500,000 young people worldwide to become leaders in the fight against plastic pollution through the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge. UK ODA funding has also supported several waste management projects including in Fiji where the local partner is working with private sector businesses on the only international standard landfill in the South Pacific. This aims to ensure 80% of waste is recycled and put back into the circular economy and includes development of a new sanitary landfill to improve waste collection and prevent harmful pollutants that are detrimental to Fijian mangroves and coral reefs entering these ecosystems.
On World Ocean Day Defra hosted leaders from the private sector for a roundtable on investment strategies and opportunities for a thriving sustainable blue economy. It showcased the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) to investors, financial institutions, corporations and philanthropies as a commercially viable and scalable investment opportunity for the ocean, reefs, and climate-vulnerable communities. Since first contributing to the GFCR in 2021, the UK has maintained its position as the largest public donor with our total commitment now £33m from the UK’s Blue Planet Fund programme.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of bottom-trawling in marine protected areas on the 30by30 initiative.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The 30by30 target, Target 3 of the Convention on Biological Diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, is a global target to protect 30% of the global ocean and of land by 2030. Nearly 8.3% of the global ocean is now protected. Achieving a global 30by30 target will require an international effort, from all countries and sectors and the UK is leading the way. In England, we have established a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 40% of our waters, and we are now focusing on making sure they are properly protected.
Marine regulators make evidence-based, site by site assessments on the fishing activities that could prevent MPAs from achieving their conservation objectives. Nearly 60% of the 178 English MPAs are already protected from damaging fishing activity. This includes byelaws made last year, which ban bottom towed gear over sensitive features in the first four offshore sites. The Marine Management Organisation consulted earlier this year on similar proposals for a further 13 sites. We are aiming to have all MPAs in English waters protected from damaging fishing activity by 2024.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the UK’s obligations to protect marine habitats in international waters.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK complies with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to protect and preserve the marine environment. The UK played a key role in securing a landmark international Agreement to Protect Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) in March 2023. We will continue to play a leading role in implementation, including supporting developing countries. The Agreement will help to achieve the target to effectively conserve and manage at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We support the work of regional seas bodies such as the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, which has designated ten Marine Protected Areas in the high seas, and are a signatory to the Hamilton Declaration on Collaboration for the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea.