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 on improving the natural environment of the findings of the Final Report, The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, published by HMT on 2 February 2021.

The Government thanks Professor Dasgupta for his independent Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, and its considerable contribution to the important issue of global biodiversity loss. Protecting and enhancing our natural assets, and the biodiversity that underpins them, is crucial to achieving a sustainable, resilient economy. The Government will draw on the strong intellectual basis provided by the Review to drive the ambitious change and investment needed to protect and enhance the natural environment.

The UK Government has recently taken numerous actions to address biodiversity loss including: announcing support for a global target to protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030; committing to protect 30% of the UK’s land by 2030; committing to invest at least £3 billion over five years in climate change solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity; launching the £640 million Nature for Climate Fund to plant more than 40 million trees and restore 35,000 hectares of peatland in England; legislating to prevent illegal deforestation in the supply chains of large UK companies; pioneering the Leaders Pledge for Nature, which has now been signed by 82 countries; and strengthening Government guidelines for policy appraisal to ensure environmental impacts are taken into account.

The Government will examine the Review’s findings closely and respond formally in due course on the ways in which the government intends to draw and build on the Review, both domestically and internationally.