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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office publication, Overseas Territories, Security, Success and Sustainability, published in November 2012, what progress her Department has made on each of the environmental Priorities for Action in that paper; and what further steps she plans to take to deliver those priorities.

In the UK we work across Government to deliver co-ordinated support to the Territories on natural environment issues. Each Department leads on its respective areas of responsibility. Under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s White Paper, ‘The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability’, Defra leads on biodiversity and climate change adaptation and is committed to providing support for endangered species and habitats. This includes work through the ‘Darwin Plus: Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund’ launched in October 2012 and implementation of the UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy. Together with its Agencies, Defra has continued to provide technical and policy advice and ensured the delivery of key research in the Territories.

We recently published a comprehensive update on ongoing and planned UK Government activities in support of the UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy, which sets out in detail some of our activities in these areas:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-overseas-territories-biodiversity-strategy-update.

Actions range from co-funding an officer based in the Falkland Islands, responsible for implementing the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels on behalf of the South Atlantic Overseas Territories, to funding environmental mainstreaming in Anguilla to help put environmental considerations at the heart of decision making.