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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure the protection of the marine environment.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central on 2 November 2021, PQ UIN 68367.

The UK is a global leader in protecting the seas, ocean and marine life, and we will continue to work with partners domestically and overseas to help achieve a healthy and resilient ocean.

From penguin colonies to marine turtles, the UK Overseas Territories are home to globally significant biodiversity. Last year the Blue Belt programme exceeded its target of protecting and enhancing over four million km² of marine environment around five UK Overseas Territories. This means that at least 60% of the entire UK marine estate, including around the UK mainland and Overseas Territories, has been designated within MPAs.

We continue to push for strong multilateral action, including through the Convention on Biological Diversity, leading global efforts to champion the target to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, now supported by over 100 countries.

Under the UK's Presidency, COP26 agreed to give a more prominent role to the ocean in global climate change discussions. Protecting and restoring the ocean is essential in our response to climate change and the UK will continue to work to strengthen ocean-climate action through the UNFCCC framework.

The UK also supports the start of negotiations on a new global agreement to tackle plastic pollution and co-sponsored an ambitious resolution proposed by Peru and Rwanda to start negotiations at the continuation of the 5th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) in 2022.

To help support this ambition, the Prime Minister launched a £500 million Blue Planet Fund at the G7 summit in June 2021, financed from the UK Official Development Assistance budget. The Blue Planet Fund will help developing countries protect their marine resources from key human generated threats including climate change, marine pollution, overfishing and habitat loss, in order to reduce poverty.