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 she has had with her overseas counterparts on proposals to protect the Last Ice Area and its polar bear population.

Defra has had no recent discussions with our overseas counterparts on proposals to protect the Last Ice Area. We were however pleased that polar bear range countries committed to the first-ever circumpolar, 10 year action plan in 2015 to protect and manage the bears and their habitat. The UK supports this collaborative approach as the way forward to ensure the long term conservation of the species.