Marine Environment: Finance

(asked on 14th May 2021) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will increase investment in new forms of finance to fund ocean recovery.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 24th May 2021

We are at a pivotal moment for ocean recovery, and the Government is supporting ocean protection through appropriate funding, both domestically and internationally. We are extending our Blue Belt initiative with £7 million of funding, which is now on course to provide world-leading marine protection for over 4 million km2 before the end of this year. Additionally, the Government's £80 million Green Recovery Challenge fund is helping environmental organisations start work on projects across England, including marine and coastal projects, to restore nature and tackle climate change. The Government has also launched the £6.1 million Fisheries and Seafood Scheme which will contribute to the long-term sustainability of the English seafood sector and support a thriving marine environment.

The Government has pledged £500 million to create a new Blue Planet Fund to help developing countries reduce poverty, protect and sustainably manage their marine resources and address human-generated threats across four key themes: biodiversity, climate change, marine pollution, and sustainable seafood. Financed from the UK Official Development Assistance Budget, the Fund will be managed by Defra and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and will be launched later this year.

Beyond public investment, this Government also recognises the importance of mobilising private finance for the development of sustainable ocean-based economies, which are particularly dependent on a healthy ocean. Building on experience and growth in climate and green finance over the last ten years, new ocean-specific private finance initiatives (Blue Finance) are beginning to gain global traction across the world, covering topics such as marine biodiversity, blue carbon and marine plastic pollution. We are collaborating with international partnerships to scale up innovative finance solutions and considering how the Blue Planet Fund could support mobilising Blue Finance. This has recently been highlighted in the G7 Climate and Environment Ministers’ Communique, published on 21 May 2021, where the G7 committed to strengthening support to the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, whose purpose is to build resilience in communities most vulnerable to ocean risk, by pioneering finance and insurance products.

Departmental budgets for future years beyond 2021-22 will be set through the Spending Review later this year. Further details, including the envelopes for the Spending Review, will be set out in due course.

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