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 Prime Minister’s speech to the UN General Assembly of 26 September 2020, what steps his Department plans to take to use the UK G7 presidency to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.

The UK plays a leading role in driving the global response to eradicate illegal wildlife trade. We intend to invest over £66 million between 2014 and 2024 on work to directly tackle the illegal wildlife trade in animals and plants, including to reduce demand, strengthen enforcement, ensure effective legal frameworks and develop sustainable alternative livelihoods.

We are working across Government to define the objectives for the UK’s G7 Presidency in 2021. These objectives will be shared in due course.