PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
British Overseas Territories: Marine Protected Areas (17 July 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Government's announcement of 15 September 2016 on making £20 million available to support delivery of the Blue Belt policy to increase marine protection within the UK Overseas Territories, whether that policy remains Government policy.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

The Government is fully committed to creating a Blue Belt around the UK Overseas Territories (OTs). We remain on track to deliver four million km² of protected ocean around our OTs by 2020. In support of our commitment, I was pleased to announce £20 million of funding to support our Blue Belt commitments over the next four years at the Our Oceans Summit in Washington DC last September.

So far, that funding has provided support to develop management, surveillance and enforcement plans to very large marine protected areas already announced. It has also supported the development of marine protection strategies to Territories committed to developing marine protection regimes by 2020. Specific funding arrangements for future years are under discussion.

Answered by:
Sir Alan Duncan (Conservative)
20 July 2017