My Lords, we have close and continuing discussions with the United States on Iran, as on other Middle Eastern questions. I am

conscious that one of my colleagues was talking to his American opposite number yesterday. We deal with many states across the world whose record on human rights is imperfect, if not awful. Nevertheless, we have to deal with them and try our best to improve their record.

It is premature to say that they are moving in the direction of stopping it, to be frank. This is something that we must and will continue to pursue.

Our Embassy in Baghdad raised the 26 December attack on Camp Liberty with the Government of Iraq in January. We understand that an investigation has been launched into the attack. The Foreign Secretary raised security at the Camp when he met the Iraqi Foreign Minister in November in London. We have not made representations to the Iranian government about the situation at Camp Liberty.

We do not support calls for United Nations military personnel to be stationed at Camp Liberty. The Government of Iraq, as the sovereign Government, is responsible for security at the camp.

Defra has made no recent assessment of these issues. Assessments have been made by others, for example the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has published its Global Forest Resource Assessment.

Under the reformed EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), due to come into effect on 1 January 2014, the derogation enabling UK control over the 0 – 12 nautical mile (nm) zone around our coasts was maintained. A limited number of Member States (France, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium) retain their historic access to our 6-12nm zone and are permitted access to certain areas to catch particular species. These rights are based on historic activity, and the details of the areas and species that may be fished are set out in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002. Spanish vessels do not hold any such rights.

Records indicate that in the period 2011-2013, no French or Spanish vessels were investigated for fishing illegally inside the UK’s 6-12nm limits. The Marine Management Organisation undertakes monitoring and enforcement action on a risk basis. Due to the perceived low risk of unauthorised fishing by non-UK vessels within the UK’s 6-12nm limits, no enforcement action is targeted solely at this activity.

The new CFP also includes provisions to progressively eliminate discards, a key UK priority in the negotiations. The UK Government also strongly supports the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems with specific measures to restrict fishing activity such as bottom-trawling in sensitive areas.

Under the reformed EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), due to come into effect on 1 January 2014, the derogation enabling UK control over the 0 – 12 nautical mile (nm) zone around our coasts was maintained. A limited number of Member States (France, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium) retain their historic access to our 6-12nm zone and are permitted access to certain areas to catch particular species. These rights are based on historic activity, and the details of the areas and species that may be fished are set out in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002. Spanish vessels do not hold any such rights.

Records indicate that in the period 2011-2013, no French or Spanish vessels were investigated for fishing illegally inside the UK’s 6-12nm limits. The Marine Management Organisation undertakes monitoring and enforcement action on a risk basis. Due to the perceived low risk of unauthorised fishing by non-UK vessels within the UK’s 6-12nm limits, no enforcement action is targeted solely at this activity.

The new CFP also includes provisions to progressively eliminate discards, a key UK priority in the negotiations. The UK Government also strongly supports the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems with specific measures to restrict fishing activity such as bottom-trawling in sensitive areas.

The UK government does not collect international data on the felling of rainforests under licence or illegally, Tackling deforestation is a priority for the government's International Climate Fund (ICF). Funding from the ICF supports a number of major programmes aimed at stopping illegal logging and supporting better management of forests in developing countries.

The Government has made no formal assessment of these issues but has been working with the private sector and multilateral organisations to promote the sustainability of palm oil and reduce the impact of cultivation on forests.

The Government has committed to achieve 100% sourcing of sustainable palm oil by 2015 and requires sustainable palm oil in its buying standards. This sends a strong message about the importance of supporting sustainable production and the role consumer countries have in promoting sustainable palm oil as part of our efforts to tackle global deforestation.

As I made reference to before, we are working very constructively with the internet service providers’ industry, which is as concerned to make sure that inappropriate materials are not accessed by young people online. The providers are very well aware of the damage that it can do to young children to find themselves, perhaps inadvertently, drawn into a game which shows extreme violence or engenders extreme fear. It is a matter for all parties to work together on this one.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that globally around 13 million hectares (ha) of forests were converted to other uses (including agriculture) or were lost through natural causes each year between 2000 and 2010. Countries where major rainforest clearance took place from 2005-10 are Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria.

Comprehensive and reliable assessments on how much deforestation has been due to illegal logging, and what effect this has on the livelihoods of indigenous people are not available. DFID currently supports a study that will directly measure illegality in logging and forest clearance in Indonesia. DFID supports studies in 25 forest countries into the dependence of indigenous communities on forests carried out by the Centre for International Forest Research’s (CIFOR) Poverty and Environment Network project. DFID also supports Civil Society Organizations such as The Rainforest Foundation and Rights and Resources Initiative which work with forest-dependent and indigenous communities to help them secure their rights to the forests they live in and prevent both illegal clearing and authorised conversion to which they do not agree.

Based on the most recent Food and Agriculture Organisation data available through the Forest Resource Assessment 2010, the countries where major rainforest clearance took place from 2005-10 are: Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria.

We fully recognise the need to tackle global deforestation. Forests contain vast biodiversity, contribute to the livelihoods of billions of people, and—as estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fourth Assessment Report—forestry accounted for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2004. To this end we are engaged in many discussions related to tackling deforestation.

At the event on international forests hosted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales on 29 November 2012, Secretary of State Edward Davey announced our plans for a new investments focused on tackling agricultural drivers of deforestation, working with the private sector and rainforest countries. The UK also committed to work together with Australia, Germany, Norway and USA to improve our coordination of

REDD+ finance, and accelerate REDD+ delivery, in the context of maintaining a two degrees Celsius climate trajectory. With Colombia we jointly outlined our intention to tackle deforestation and forest degradation, in the context of their ambition for zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2020.

On 11 April, Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker pledged UK support to the Tropical Forests Alliance 2020 (TFA2020), a partnership set up by the Consumer Goods Forum and the US Government to tackle deforestation. We see this as an important opportunity to work together with companies and other governments to identify practical opportunities for more sustainable production methods and supply chains. The TFA2020 met at expert level in Jakarta from the 25-27 June 2013.

At the Forest Science meeting hosted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at Clarence House on 8 May 2013, the Secretaries of State Edward Davey and Owen Patterson highlighted the importance of rainforest protection to climate and biodiversity respectively.

As part of on-going policymaking, officials from DECC, DFID and Defra have recently engaged in meetings and discussions on tackling deforestation including:

The World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility meeting in Washington D.0 18-21 March 2013 where a framework to assess progress on readiness with a view to access the Carbon Fund, as well as to demonstrate commitment to reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), was approved.

A workshop on drivers of deforestation, 8-9 April 2013 at The Royal Society, with representatives from other countries and non-governmental organisations. The aim was to increase understanding of the commodity drivers of tropical deforestation and degradation, and public and private sector efforts to address them, and to identify key opportunities for new cross-sectoral collaborations and more effective future interventions.

The United Nations Forum on Forests which meets biennially. The 10th UNFF was held in Istanbul in April 2013 and reached agreement on a process for discussing future international arrangements on forestry, and their financing, once the mandate for UNFF expires in 2015.

A Germany-led mission along with Norway and the UK on 20-24 May to explore opportunities to work together in Colombia on tackling deforestation, this followed from our commitment to deepen the dialogue on tackling deforestation with Colombia.

A consultation at Chatham House on 22 May to discuss a proposition for the Forests and Climate Change programme, with representatives from non-governmental organisations and business.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations on REDD+ 3-14 June in Bonn. We were involved in discussions which resulted in the substantial progress seen on the methodological issues on drivers of deforestation, safeguard information systems, national forest

monitoring systems, monitoring, reporting and verification, and the technical assessment of forest reference levels.

The REDD+ Partnership meeting on 15 June in Bonn. We agreed the Partnership work plan for the coming 18 months.

The UK participates with the European Commission in on-going negotiation and implementation oversight of bilateral timber trade agreements between major tropical timber trading countries and the EU that aim to strengthen forest governance, including respect for indigenous peoples' rights, and ensure only legally logged timber enters international trade. Recent EU meetings related to negotiations or oversight of EU timber trade agreements, where the UK has been involved, have been held with Indonesia (April 2013), Liberia (May 2013), Republic of Congo (April 2013), Ghana (May 2013) and Guyana (May 2013).

We will continue to engage in discussions and meetings to tackle deforestation at Ministerial and official level. Our ultimate objective for these meetings is to support the EU and UK goal of halving global deforestation by 2020 and halting it by 2030.

I hear the point that my noble friend is making. Noble Lords may be aware that there is a long history to this matter. The particular group, Mujaheddin e Khalq, which originally was in Camp Ashraf and was moved to Camp Liberty, is being assessed by the UNHCR for relocation. Concerns have been raised about the conditions within the camp—concerns about water, sanitation and electricity. This is not to justify the conditions in those camps but they are similar to, if not sometimes better than, some of the conditions that people face in Baghdad. It therefore has to be viewed in the context of the country in which we are operating.

At the conference in Kuwait, a number of the Gulf States made very generous pledges. For example, the UAE pledged £300 million, as did

Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia £78 million. We are concerned that they now deliver on those pledges. We were encouraged that they made them and now hope to see them implemented.

My Lords, we are currently holding a public consultation on proposals to designate a first tranche of up to 31 marine conservation zones in 2013. These will complement the large number of existing marine protected areas to contribute to an ecologically coherent network.

My Lords, my noble friend asked first when additional sites will be brought forward in a tranche. We will shortly be in a position to assess how the consultation has gone. I very much hope that we will be in a position to make a further announcement on more sites thereafter.

My noble friend essentially asks whether we do not already have enough evidence. I give him some examples of the type of evidence that we require, which goes a little further than he suggested. We are doing additional habitat and seabed mapping, an in-depth review of the evidence base supporting the recommendations from the regional projects, a study of the value of spatial protection measures for mobile species, and studies to enable the quantification of benefits from the impact assessment.

Indeed, and I repeat what I said before: the new national curriculum at key stage 2 will mean that for the first time primary schools will have to teach French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, Latin or ancient Greek.

My Lords, by its nature when a very localised civil war is under way, it is very difficult for any of us to control what the outcome will be. The only assurance that I, or any other international actor, can give is that Her Majesty’s Government are working with our allies and partners in the Middle East and attempting to persuade the Russian and Chinese Governments to work towards the achievement of a negotiated solution that would see a more inclusive Government replace the Assad regime.

Yes, my Lords, it is very much linked.