Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effects of climate change on Overseas Territories; and what measures are being put in place to protect biodiversity in Overseas Territories.

In 2015, the Department For International Development commissioned an assessment of climate change and its likely impact on many of the Overseas Territories. The report is available on the gov.uk website. Separate work is underway with those territory governments not covered by this report, to ensure measures are in place.

To assist our Overseas Territories (OT) to protect their biodiversity, financial support is provided by the Government, through the Darwin Plus initiative and the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF). Darwin Plus helps UK Overseas Territories to protect their biodiversity and meet their international obligations under key biodiversity conventions. To date, 70 Darwin Plus projects, with a total value of £10.9 million, have been funded.

Through the CSSF the Government has provided £2.02m to assist the OTs in embedding natural capital considerations into decision-making and planning; £1m to support Territories in improving their biosecurity; £1.75m to support the work led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to tackle invasive species in and restore Gough Island; and £4.8m during the current financial year to support the development and implementation of a blue belt of marine protected areas around the OTs.