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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to respond to the WWF Living Planet report; and if he will make a statement.

The continued decline in global nature highlighted by the WWF Living Planet report matters to us all. While there will be no formal Government response we will continue to work with WWF and others to achieve the transformative changes needed.

The science is clear, biodiversity loss is a global problem that needs a global solution. It is critical that we act now, internationally and at home, to ensure that we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.

The UK is committed to playing a leading role in developing an ambitious and transformative post-2020 framework for biodiversity under the CBD, reflecting the scale and urgency of the necessary actions to halt and reverse biodiversity loss within a generation and contribute to tackling climate change.

Over 30 countries have joined the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance, calling for a target to protect at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030. On the 28 September, the Prime Minister pledged the UK’s support for an equally ambitious commitment to protect 30% of land globally and at home.

As the host of UNFCCC COP26, we are aware that we have an important opportunity to reinforce and amplify awareness and action on the linkages between the two global challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. This is why ‘nature’ will be a key focus of COP26 in Glasgow.

The UK’s commitment to reversing nature decline is also what drove us to co-lead the negotiation of the ‘Leaders’ Pledge for Nature’, alongside the European Commission and Costa Rica. This ambitious Pledge, launched at the UN General Assembly in September, commits leaders to take ten urgent actions to put biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030. The UK is now determined to work with leaders from around the world to ensure these commitments translate into ambitious action on the ground, throughout 2021 and beyond.

Our international aims on biodiversity must be underpinned by credible action at home. In England, the 25 Year Environment Plan (YEP) marked a step-change in ambition for nature and the natural environment. This Government has announced significant funding and legislation to meet this ambition.