Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what cost-benefit analysis has been conducted of departmental funding for the Blue Belt programme since its creation in 2012.
Answered by David Rutley
The Blue Belt initiative was launched in 2016 and has invested over £40 million in enhancing the protection of waters around the UK's Overseas Territories (OT). Over 4.3m square kilometres is designated as protected waters and the Blue Belt supports the OTs on management, monitoring, surveillance and enforcement - less than £10 per protected square kilometre to date. The Blue Belt programme has also raised awareness of the value and global significance of OT waters and contributes to the delivery of the global target to protect 30% of the world's ocean by 2030.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the resumed fifth session of the intergovernmental conference on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, if the Government will support enabling the Conference of Parties of any high seas treaty to create marine protected areas.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Negotiations in the Intergovernmental Conference to negotiate a new Implementing Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) resumed at the UN on 20 February. The UK strongly supports the conclusion of an ambitious agreement at these negotiations and is working hard with international partners to achieve that outcome, which will include a mechanism for establishing Marine Protected Areas in the high seas. Negotiations conclude on 3 March.