Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether UK aid is being used to address the depletion of important ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.

We remain concerned about the environmental damage from organised crime in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and Embassy officials have raised this with the Ministry of Environment. Through the Magna Carta Fund, the UK has supported civil society to protect indigenous environmental defenders. This has included the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, where we support protection and judicial mechanisms for environmental defenders, and contribute funding to conservation and restoration schemes to protect fragile ecosystems.