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My Lords, the UK recognises the global importance of conserving the Sargasso Sea and has long worked with the Government of Bermuda on science-led conservation, including with the Sargasso Sea Commission. Together, we have been spearheading the Hamilton II Declaration, a political initiative that allows the UK and its co-signatories to signal support for the development of a collective proposal under the BBNJ agreement for area-based management tools, which would be used to protect this environmentally significant area.
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I thank the Minster for her Answer; I am comforted by it. It is well documented that networks of ecologically connected MPAs deliver greater conservation benefits. Will the Government commit to working alongside other Atlantic countries to advocate at upcoming international fora for a network of Atlantic MPAs?
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I will have to take the right reverend Prelate’s word that that is the case. That certainly makes sense to me. As signatories to the agreement, we would hope to work with our partners, wherever they may be, to bring the benefits of this treaty as widely as possible.
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My Lords, I know that we have signed the global ocean treaty, but have we ratified it yet? Does the Minister think that the Commonwealth, which is increasingly involved in maritime affairs, with 33 island states, has an important role to play and could it make it work still better?
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The Commonwealth is a vital international union of countries that can do much good around the world. As for ratification, the noble Lord is right—we have not ratified it yet, but I hope that we will be able to do so imminently.
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My Lords, we have plenty of time. The Liberal Democrat Bench is next, then the Cross Benches.
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I appreciate that. The Sargasso Sea is extremely important for hundreds of species, so will the Government advocate for the highest level of protection, under which all industrial fishing, in particular, is banned?
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Exactly what will be contained within the measures needs to be negotiated and worked through. We are working closely with the Government of Bermuda to get this right. Our aim is to get this settled for the first conference of the parties under the agreement, which I think will happen early next year.
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Does the Minister recognise that there is a real risk that the global ocean treaty remains just words on paper if something is not done to create operational effect, and that the ideas put forward by the right reverend Prelate for some collective action—for example, in the Sargasso Sea—make a lot of sense? Will the Government now take steps to organise, with other like-minded countries, some way of turning the words on paper into reality?
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The noble Lord is absolutely right and that must not be allowed to happen in this case. This agreement is important and it seeks to resolve something that I think many noble Lords care deeply about. The practical implementation now needs to happen at pace and there will be a conference happening early next year, as I said, to put the ideals in the agreement into action.
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My Lords, we are supportive of the Government doing the right thing and protecting our most biodiverse areas, seas and oceans. On Report of the Diego Garcia military base Bill, the Minister admitted that Mauritius does not have the capabilities to protect the current marine protected area, one of the largest in the world. Can the Minister assure your Lordships’ House that the Government will never again seek to transfer the BIOT to a nation incapable of or unwilling to protect the current marine protected area?
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To say that Mauritius is unwilling is a bit harsh—it is very willing and it has committed to do this. We have committed to work alongside it to make sure that the waters around the archipelago are protected.
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My Lords, in the UK, there are 377 marine protected areas, and, of those, only 38 ban the destructive practice of bottom trawling. What makes the Government think that they can do any better in the Sargasso Sea?
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At risk of stepping on the toes of my noble and good friend Lady Hayman, the Defra Minister, I believe that Defra is either consulting on or has just concluded a consultation on this issue. The Government will be responding very shortly.
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My Lords, protecting the seas is one of the most pressing issues of our time, in my view. What maritime strategy do we have to make sure that these treaties have any bite? Let me remind people: soft power without hard power is no power, and we need to be able to protect those areas.
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I think soft power can be very impactful, and you do not always need hard power to get what you want in the world, thank goodness. This is about oceans beyond national jurisdiction, so it needs—it will not work unless there is—joint agreement and an agreed way forward on what you do to protect a particular area. That implementation work of which areas, who is responsible and who is going to do what is still to be negotiated ahead of the first conference in 2027.
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When I was listening to the Opposition Front Bench, I was trying to recall who it was who first suggested the transfer of Diego Garcia to Mauritius. Perhaps my noble friend could remind me and the House but, above all, the opposition spokesperson who it was.
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Now that my noble friend asks me, I believe I am correct in saying that there were 12, 13 or 14 rounds of negotiations undertaken by the previous Conservative Government on the future of the Chagos Archipelago.
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Further to that question, surely the fact that 12 negotiating sessions went on shows that the last Government did not reach a deal because they could not. The Chagos Archipelago contains not one of the world’s most vital reef wildernesses but the world’s most vital reef wilderness. The question is: who is best placed to manage it? Ten prominent marine biologists have said that they do not trust that incredible wilderness in the hands of Mauritius, so surely the time has now come for the Government to abandon this discredited treaty.
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Reaching viable agreements was not a strength of the previous Government. However, the fact that they had so many rounds of negotiation did speak to the fact that there was a problem which needed to be resolved. This Government came up with a viable proposition for its resolution. The problem remains, and it still needs to be resolved. Protection of the ocean around the archipelago is incredibly important, which is why we are working so intensively with Mauritius to ensure its protection.
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Given that, as we have just heard, it took 12 meetings for His Majesty’s Opposition to realise that, in their opinion, Mauritius was not a great place to protect the environment, does the Minister think that this is just rank hypocrisy on their part, given that they started those negotiations? Trying to blacken Mauritius and saying that it cannot protect the environment is not a great way of negotiating.
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It is not for me to throw insults around this Chamber, but Mauritius itself has said that it does not feel that it is currently able to maintain and protect the ocean around the archipelago. I see that as a positive sign. What worries me is when a country claims to be able to do something which it demonstrably cannot; that is not the situation we are dealing with. The technical assistance needed to support the protection of the ocean, which is always going to be a collective endeavour, is taking place.
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I urge Ministers to look again at the giving away of the Chagos. There is no legal need to do so, and my noble friend Lord Cameron, as Foreign Secretary, realised that, did not do so, and had the full support of many of us.
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The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, will confirm if you ask him that yes, he did pause the negotiations, but he restarted them because he could see that this was a necessary process.
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I had the privilege of being alongside my noble friend Lord Ahmad when we signed the BBNJ treaty at the UN in 2023. It is great news to hear about progress on the Sargasso. I think there is a real opportunity, building on what my noble friend Lord Howell of Guildford said, about using the Commonwealth. There are certainly wonderful opportunities around overseas territories such as St Helena and linking up with Namibia. I encourage the Minister to use whatever aid is left, but more importantly our marine science expertise, to try to propagate these right around the world.
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I think the noble Baroness put that incredibly well. I take her encouragement in good spirit, and I will work with my fellow Ministers to do just that.