Jan 16 - UK Fails to Protect Overseas Territories' Biodiversity – Claims Commons Committee
According to a new report, released by the Environmental Audit Committee for the House of Commons, the UK Government is failing to protect the globally significant biodiversity of the UK Overseas Territories, despite its international treaty commitment to protect those unique species and habitats.
The report insists that the environment in the Overseas Territories comprises 90% of the biodiversity for which the UK Government has responsibility. The report goes on to note that the Government has failed to negotiate the extension of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The UN Convention was signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and comprises a comprehensive list of actions that parties must take to protect species and ecosystems.The Government is unclear on what it is responsible for and why it is responsible for it, meaning that the 2012 Overseas Territories White Paper, which detailed the UK’s relationship with the Overseas Territories and was the first document to outline their connection since the 1999 Partnership for Progress and Prosperity report.
The Overseas Territories are known for vast tracks of crystalline Ocean, extensive tropical forests, stunning polar wilderness, Gibraltar’s own spectacular Rock, thousands of coral atolls and much more. Chair of the Environment Audit Committee, Joan Walley explained that ‘the UK Government doesn’t even know precisely what it is responsible for, because it has failed accurately to assess and catalogue those species and habitats.’
The report’s conclusion insists that investing to prevent biodiversity loss in the UK Overseas Territories is a cost effective contribution to meeting the UK’s international commitments under the UK Convention on Biological Diversity.
Commenting on the issue at hand, a Foreign Office spokesperson commented, ' We welcome the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on Sustainability in the UK’s Overseas Territories. We are carefully considering the findings and recommendations made by the Committee and will formally respond in due course.' They added, ' the constitutional relationship between the UK and its Overseas Territories was set out clearly in the 2012 White Paper. Each Territory has its own Constitution and its own Government and has its own local laws. The UK is responsible for the defence; external relations; and, generally, internal security of the Territories. Other than that, powers are devolved to the Territories to the maximum extent possible. Governments of the inhabited Overseas Territories are therefore constitutionally responsible for the protection and conservation of their natural environments.'
