1 Introduction
1. The 14 United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs)
comprise Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British
Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT); Cayman Islands; Sovereign Base
Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus (commonly known as Sovereign
Base Areas); Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn,
Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands (commonly known as Pitcairn
Islands); St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia
and the South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands; and
Virgin Islands (commonly known as British Virgin Islands or BVI).
2. The UKOTs are geographically diverse: Anguilla,
Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and British
Virgin Islands are in the Caribbean; Bermuda is in the North Atlantic;
Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
and St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are in the South
Atlantic; Pitcairn Islands are in the Pacific; Sovereign Base
Areas and Gibraltar are in Europe; and the locations of British
Antarctic Territory and of BIOT are self-explanatory. The UKOTs
encompass vast tracts of ocean, thousands of coral atolls, tropical
forests and a polar wilderness six times the size of the United
Kingdom.
3. Eleven of the UKOTs have permanent populations,
ranging from the 63,000 residents of Bermuda to the 50 or so inhabitants
of the Pitcairn Islands. Three UKOTs—British Antarctic Territory,
BIOT and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands—have
no permanent population. Taken together, the total population
of the UKOTs amounts to some 250,000 people, which is loosely
equivalent to that of Nottingham.[1]
Figure 1—The United Kingdom Overseas Territories
White Paper
4. In June 2012, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(FCO) published The Overseas Territories: Security, Success
and Sustainability.[2]
It was the first White Paper specifically to address the UK's
relationship with the Overseas Territories since Partnership
for Progress and Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories,
which was published in 1999.[3]
The 2012 White Paper covers defence, economic development,
governance, communities and the environment. Considering the
environment alone—defence, development, communities and
governance are also important—the international significance
of the biodiversity in the UKOTs means that 13 years is too long
a gap between Overseas Territories White Papers and indicates
policy drift by successive UK Governments. We therefore welcome
the publication of the 2012 White Paper.
5. The UK oversees engagement by the UKOTs in UN
programmes (see paragraph 16). The UN has introduced several overarching
environmental initiatives in the past 13 years, such as the Aarhus
Convention, the Nagoya Protocol and the Rio +20 Sustainable Development
Goals. If any Overseas Territories White Papers had been introduced
in the past 13 years, they would have allowed the UK to develop
its strategy to engage the UKOTs in the UN's evolving environmental
programmes. That did not happen, and the 2012 White Paper included
no such policy detail.
6. The 2012 White Paper set out the UK Government's
aspirations in relation to the environment in the UKOTs. The Prime
Minister indicated the scale of his ambition in the foreword:
We see an important opportunity to set world
standards in our stewardship of the extraordinary natural environments
we have inherited. This Government is ambitious for our Territories
as we are ambitious for the United Kingdom. This White Paper sets
out our commitment to work with the Territories to address the
challenges we face together. This is a commitment from across
the UK Government.[4]
The Foreign Secretary shared the Prime Minister's
vision:
The Coalition Government has a vision for the
Territories ... of natural environments protected and managed
to the highest international standards ... In many respects the
Territories are more vulnerable than the UK. We have a broad responsibility
to support them ... We have not in the past devoted enough attention
to the vast and pristine environments in the lands and seas of
our Territories. We are stewards of these assets for future generations.[5]
We are heartened by that broad commitment to protecting
the environment in the UKOTs. This Report examines the actions
that the UK Government is taking to realise its aspirations.
Inquiry
7. Our predecessor Committee examined the conservation
of biodiversity in the UKOTs in Halting biodiversity loss,
published in 2008.[6] To
build on the scrutiny conducted in the previous Parliament and
to examine the policies advanced in the 2012 White Paper, we resolved
to conduct an inquiry on Sustainability in the United Kingdom
Overseas Territories. Our inquiry began with a call for evidence
in March 2013. In the course of our inquiry, we received 40 written
submissions. We conducted four oral evidence sessions, when we
heard from FCO Minister Mark Simmonds MP, former Defra Minister
Richard Benyon MP, UK and UKOTs civil servants, NGOs and developers.
We are grateful to everyone who gave evidence.
8. Two of our Members visited Cayman Islands in June
2013. The visit programme and our observations are set out in
Annex 1. The UKOTs are geographically, culturally, economically
and environmentally diverse. Despite the differences between the
UKOTs, however, they also have a great deal in common. Our visit
was therefore both generally and specifically valuable. For example,
we had read about the constitutional relationship between UK Governor
and UKOTs Government, but the subtle strengths and tensions implicit
in that relationship only became apparent when we saw it work
in practice.
9. We heard that while FCO civil servants visit the
UKOTs, Defra staff are discouraged from doing so.[7]
The 2012 White Paper sets out new responsibilities for Defra and
other Departments in supporting the UKOTs, which entails "each
UK Department assuming responsibility for supporting the Territories,
as needed, in its own areas of competence and expertise."[8]
Defra must empower its staff to visit the UKOTs to meet
elected representatives and civil servants and to examine environmental
issues in person in order effectively to discharge their responsibilities.
JOINT MINISTERIAL COUNCIL OF THE
OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
10. The Joint Ministerial Council of the Overseas
Territories (JMC) is an annual forum involving UK Ministers and
UKOTs Governments. The JMC is a new institution that first convened
in 2012. The second JMC took place in London from 26 November
to 28 November 2013.[9]
As part of the JMC, we attended a meeting with representatives
from UKOTs Governments on 27 November 2013 focused on the environment.
At this meeting, we were told that while representatives from
the UKOTs were involved in deciding some aspects of the JMC programme,
the agenda was ultimately set by the FCO and that some representatives
from the UKOTs did not feel that they were equal participants.
The FCO must prioritise greater involvement by representatives
from the UKOTs in setting the agenda at future JMCs.
1 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability,
CM 8374, June 2012 Back
2
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability,
CM 8374, June 2012 Back
3
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Partnership for Progress and Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories,
March 1999 Back
4
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability,
CM 8374, June 2012, p 5 Back
5
Ibid., p 7 Back
6
Environmental Audit Committee, Thirteenth Report of Session 2007-08,
Halting biodiversity loss, HC 743 Back
7
Qq 131-134 Back
8
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability,
CM 8374, June 2012, p 16 Back
9
HC Deb, 12 December 2013, col 55WS Back
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