Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the position adopted in the Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the Face of Climate Change-related Sea-Level Rise, published in August 2021 by the Pacific Islands Forum, including that no state should lose territory of any kind as a result of human-caused climate change.

We acknowledge that sea level rise poses challenges with respect to the stability of maritime boundaries and we recognise that this is a significant concern for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other coastal countries including the UK. We have taken careful note of the Pacific Islands Forum declaration on this topic and are considering it in detail. The UK acknowledges that this is a matter of considerable importance to (SIDS) who are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We continue to work with SIDS to drive global ambition of emissions reductions, and support adaptation and resilience in SIDS including through accessing finance. The UK Government has a number of programmes which will support SIDS and which aim to strengthen resilience against climate change, such as the global £500 million Blue Planet Fund.