Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to establish a Global Ocean Treaty to enable governments to establish Marine Protected Areas, set conservation goals and adopt management measures to deliver protection.

The draft Treaty text being negotiated is intended to be a legally binding instrument under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ Agreement).

The BBNJ Agreement is important for ocean conservation and the UK is working proactively in the negotiations, and more widely including with G7 partners, to try to ensure that an ambitious text is concluded by the end of this year. In particular, the Agreement should enable the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the High Seas, which will be crucial to delivering a new target under the Convention of Biological Diversity of protecting at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030. The Agreement should also enable a more holistic approach to global ocean governance, facilitating cooperation between existing bodies and filling in gaps, such as requiring Environmental Impact Assessments for new activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction.