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Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 4 November 2019.

National Biodiversity Network Report

Question

My Lords, how can the Government claim to be protecting the natural world when the budget for Natural England has been halved and its staff numbers have dropped from 2,500 to 1,500 since 2010? What hope does it have in helping to rebuild our biodiversity when it does not have the funds or the support to deliver on its targets? What message does that send about how seriously the Government really take their promises on this issue?

Answer

I have been very lucky to work with Natural England—it does a great job, and I recently saw Tony Juniper. The United Kingdom’s contribution to international climate finance will double to £11.6 billion from 2021-25, a proportion of which will be for nature-based solutions. Yes, we have to work in this country, but turning around what the

noble Baroness and the State of Nature talk about is a global problem. Our global spending is growing very considerably indeed.

Secondary information

Type
Oral question
Reference
800 c1087 
Session
2019-19
Oral question type
Supplementary
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Biodiversity
Link
View this Oral question on hansard.parliament.uk