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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to assist states in the Global South to tackle (a) poaching and (b) wildlife crime.

The UK Government is at the forefront of international efforts to protect endangered wildlife from poaching and illegal trade. We are investing over £36 million between 2014 and 2021 to support practical action in developing countries, including our counter-poaching Task Force in Africa, 75 projects so far funded from our Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, and through the International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime. We are also contributing £250 million to the Global Environment Facility between 2018 and 2022 which, amongst other things, supports the world’s biggest fund for tackling illegal wildlife trade, the Global Wildlife Programme.

A further £30 million will be invested in tackling poaching and wildlife crime between 2021 and 2024 as part of the £220 million International Biodiversity Fund recently announced by the Prime Minister.