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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on global numbers of Asian elephants.

This Government continues to work with our international partners to support the conservation and protection of elephants globally. This includes providing funding through our Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund to support six local communities at key trade routes on the Myanmar-Thailand border in their efforts to deter poaching. We have also provided financial support through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to assist range states in registering, marking and tracing Asian elephants in order to make it harder for animals to be captured and traded illegally.