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 made of the implications for his policies of the outcomes of the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16).

The UK Biodiversity Conference (COP16) was the first opportunity for Parties to take stock of the progress made in implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) adopted at COP15.

Of the 27 important decisions taken at COP16, many provided guidance and support for Parties to help them implement the GBF. These decisions will not require significant changes to our domestic policies but do provide useful additional guidance, which we will consider in greater detail in due course.

We are still considering how to implement the decision adopted on digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources, which agreed the modalities for operationalising the multilateral benefit sharing mechanism for the use of DSI, and invites Parties to put in place measures to incentivise companies to contribute.