The Minister for the Environment Prof John Cortes yesterday chaired the ninth meeting of the Environment Ministers’ Council of the UK Overseas Territories (OTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs). 

These meetings, which are now held virtually, take place approximately every six months and bring together Environment Ministers and their equivalents, as well as senior environment officials from the OTs and CDs. 

The meeting included a session with UK Minister for Nature the Hon Mary Creagh, who interrupted a busy Parliamentary schedule to attend from London. Minister Creagh updated the Council on progress on the Biodiversity Convention, funding avenues, and other matters of interest to the Council, and replied to questions from the participants. 

The meeting included expert presentations on the disposal of Lithium batteries, on vehicle electrification, on legal advice to the territories, and on progress on the “30 x 30” objective to have thirty percent of land and sea protected in each country by 2030. 

There were two presentations on the biodiversity of the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory) by Dr Pete Carr of the NGO Chagos Conservation Trust and by Dr Mark Spalding, Scientific Advisor to the BIOT Administration. 

A statement from the meeting will now be prepared and shared with OT and CD Governments as well as with the UK Government and with the media in each of the territories. 

Minister Cortes said: “It is a real honour to chair these meetings, which are extremely useful in sharing experiences and advice on how our small countries can step up to the environmental challenges facing all of us, particularly in relation to climate change and, being island or coastal territories, the impact of severe weather and rising sea levels.”