Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the economic cost of the degradation of natural capital in the UK's marine environment.
The UK's Marine Strategy Part One (Marine strategy part one: UK initial assessment and good environmental status - Publications - GOV.UK) assessed the cost of degradation of the UK's marine environment. It estimated benefits forgone in a range of £5 million to £50.6 million from the degradation of marine assets, although this was only a partial estimate. The Natural Capital Committee has already considered how natural capital concepts can be applied to the marine environment and Defra is considering its advice.