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Sustainability in the UK Overseas Territories

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Sustainability in the UK Overseas Territories House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Sustainability in the UK Overseas Territories Written evidence Only those submissions written specifically for the Committee for the inquiry into Sustainability in the UK Overseas Territories and accepted as written evidence are included List of written evidence Page 1 UK Government 3 2 UK Overseas Territories 13 3 National Trust for the Cayman Islands 20 4 RSPB 30 5 Government of Tristan da Cunha 50 6 South Georgia Heritage Trust 52 7 Environmental Management Directorate, St Helena Government 57 8 Marine Reserves Coalition 66 9 Pew Environmental Group 73 10 UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum 83 11 Falklands Conservation 111 12 Cayman Islands Department of Environment 115 13 Turks and Caicos Islands, Dept of Environment and Maritime Affairs 119 14 Chagos Conservation Trust 122 15 British Antarctic Survey 126 16 Christine Rose-Smyth 131 17 WWF-UK 136 18 Government of Pitcairn Islands 140 19 Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) 143 3 Written evidence submitted by UK Government Introduction 1. The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) White Paper “The Overseas Territories, Security, Success and Sustainability” published in June 2012, confirms the Government’s objective to ensure that the rich, and internationally recognised, environmental assets of the UKOTs1are cherished. The UKOTs are home to many species and environments found nowhere else in the world – including an estimated 90% of the biodiversity found within the UK and the Territories combined. This biodiversity is crucial in underpinning sustainable development across the UKOTs, as it is across the world; and is of fundamental importance to the provision of social and economic benefits across our local communities. 2. Since the publication of the White Paper, the Government has launched a new funding mechanism to support environmental protection and climate change adaptation initiatives in the UKOTs. “Darwin Plus” is jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DFID), and will provide around £2m per year for UKOT initiatives. This new Fund provides a simpler and more co-ordinated source of funding, whilst maintaining the breadth of funding opportunities offered by Darwin and the previous Overseas Territories Environment Programme. Each of the three funding Departments have committed to maintain their spending commitments over the current spending review period, on natural environmental issues in the Overseas Territories. 3. In addition to the launch of this new Fund, the Government has also continued to roll out its Overseas Territories “Environmental Mainstreaming” programme, which had proved successful in the Falkland Islands and British Virgin Islands during 2011/12. Similar initiatives are underway, or in development for Anguilla, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. The aim of this programme is to support policies to ensure green growth and sustainable development, underpinning the Government’s determination to support successful economic development, including through strengthened economic planning, management of public finances, promotion of free trade and protection of vital ecosystem services and natural resources. All Territories, which wish to participate in this programme, will be given the opportunity to do so by 2014. 1 The UK Overseas Territories are: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands (including, Pitcairn, Henderson, and Ducie and Oeno), St Helena and St Helena Dependencies (Ascension and Tristan da Cunha), South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (on the island of Cyprus), The Turks & Caicos Islands. 4 4. Work is ongoing to support the delivery of the ‘United Kingdom Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy’, published in 2009. The overarching objective of this strategy is ‘to enable the UK and Overseas Territory Governments to meet their international obligations for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the Overseas Territories’. It envisages the Government working in partnership with the UKOTs to establish a set of shared values in respect of biodiversity conservation. 5. In addition to supporting on-going OTEP projects, the FCO has provided funding during this year to support a number of strategic projects in the Territories. This includes a grant to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee to develop a Falklands Islands and wider South Atlantic Information Management System (identified as a priority action from the Environmental Mainstreaming project in the Falklands) and a separate grant to begin developing a lionfish response strategy for the Caribbean region. This year the FCO is also supporting a number of projects addressing invasive species eradication, waste management, sustainable fisheries and environmental monitoring across both its inhabited and uninhabited Territories. 6. DFID through the provision of budgetary support to St Helena and Montserrat is funding two full time international environmental expert posts: Director of Environmental Management Directorate St. Helena and Special Technical Adviser on Environmental Management – DoE/Montserrat. 7. Defra and DECC Ministers and officials represent the interests of the UK and UKOTs at a number of multilateral fora including this year at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Doha, Rio+20 in Rio and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Hyderabad. 8. In the last 12 months Defra has committed funding of approximately £2.7 million to biodiversity projects in the UKOTs. The majority of this funding (£1.7m) came from the Darwin Initiative including a three-year project to develop a Biodiversity Action Plan for Ascension Island and a scoping project under the Darwin Challenge Fund to look at marine ecosystem management in Anguilla and Montserrat. 9. Defra has also committed a further £1m to other projects in the UKOTs including over £500k on rodent eradication in the South Atlantic (South Georgia and Gough Island) and environmental mainstreaming in Anguilla. These funds came from Defra’s budgets for international biodiversity and its research budget as well as the Flagship Species Fund. 10. Environmental challenges are, however, increasingly threatening the future security and safety of the Overseas Territories and in particular their biodiversity which directly supports the livelihoods of their people. The Government remains fully committed to continuing to work closely with the Governments of the Overseas 5 Territories, and with non-government organisations, to ensure that these valuable natural resources are protected for the future. The extent to which UK Government strategy on the UKOTs embodies the principles of sustainable development and appropriately trades-off environmental protection, social development and economic growth? 11. The Government Strategy towards sustainable development in the UKOTs is set out in the White Paper. Economic, social and environmental development are not mutually exclusive and the UK Government strategy looks to harness advances in one of the three strands to effect positive changes in the other two. 12. Each of the UKOTs is responsible for shaping the future of its own community through proactive management of their environmental and economic resources. The UK Government strategy is based on providing the necessary tools to enable UKOT Governments to enshrine sustainable development within their policies, and to promote the capabilities required to implement these policies. Due to their small scale and isolation, many of the UKOTs face similar challenges, providing the opportunity to share information and best practices. 13. The two environmental mainstreaming pilot projects funded by the UK Government, in the British Virgin Islands and the Falkland Islands highlight this ability to share information and best practice. The aim of these stakeholder-led projects has been to raise awareness of the value of the environment in economic growth and development, and human wellbeing, and to identify ways to integrate or ‘mainstream’ that awareness into UKOT policies, regulatory frameworks and decision-making. By taking account of the goods and services delivered by the environment, such as flood protection, prevention of coastal erosion, and mitigation of climate change impacts, UKOT Governments decisions can be more balanced and help to provide a stronger foundation for sustainable economic growth and development. This in turn can help to ensure a healthy, productive and biodiverse natural environment, whose contribution to the economy is recognised and sustainably managed. The UK Government hopes that the Overseas Territories will welcome the opportunity to engage in similar initiatives in their Territories over the next 2 years. 14. By insuring that the natural environment and the ecosystem services it provides are intrinsically valued by Territory Governments we can ensure that development and growth in the UKOTs is sustainable, green and beneficial for their inhabitants. 6 How the UK Government is fulfilling its responsibilities to protect biodiversity in the UKOTs? 15. The UKOTs support a diverse range of unique ecosystems and habitats, sustaining a large number of rare and threatened species. It is estimated that
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