Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill

Third Reading

Motion

Moved by

That the Bill do now pass.

My Lords, I am pleased to update the House that both the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly have now granted legislative consent to the Bill. I express my thanks to devolved Ministers and their officials for the constructive and collaborative way in which they have worked with us to reach this position.

I also place on record my gratitude to noble Lords from across the House for their careful scrutiny, thoughtful challenge and constructive engagement throughout the passage of this Bill. They have brought considerable expertise to bear on a range of important issues. In particular, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, who spoke convincingly on enforcement and human rights considerations on the high seas, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones and Lady Miller, who raised important issues on environmental protections and plastic pollution. I also thank my noble friend Lord Whitehead for his support on the Bill and his thoughtful maiden speech at Second Reading. I am also grateful to the Opposition Front Bench for its constructive approach throughout the Bill’s passage. Beyond Parliament, I pay tribute to the scientific community, from the National Oceanography Centre and the Natural History Museum to researchers across our universities, whose advocacy has been instrumental in demonstrating the urgency and ambition of this legislation and the wider agreement.

This Bill is vital to protecting our ocean, advancing marine science and ensuring that the United Kingdom continues to lead global efforts on ocean conservation. The ocean regulates our climate, sustains global fisheries and produces around half of the oxygen on earth. Protecting it is not simply an environmental aspiration; it is an economic, scientific and moral imperative. By passing this Bill, your Lordships will enable the United Kingdom to take the next steps to ratify the BBNJ agreement in the coming months. This will send a clear and powerful signal that the United Kingdom stands ready to lead in protecting our shared ocean, grounded in science, partnership and international co-operation.

My Lords, our debates on this Bill have been constructive, so I can be brief. I thank the Minister for her positive tone during our scrutiny of this legislation. The origins of the Bill, as has been said, lie in the agreement signed by the previous Government. We are pleased that this Government are following the lead that we set when in office and are delivering on our commitment to play our part in protecting oceans beyond national jurisdiction from environmental harm. This is an important commitment which we hope will ensure that future generations inherit cleaner and more biodiverse oceans.

I am grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed to our debates. We are pleased to have been able to challenge the Government on sustainable fishing and the maintenance of the marine protected area around the Chagos Islands in Committee. We look forward to constructively challenging the Government as they press ahead with their work, alongside the other signatories to the treaty, to deliver the appropriate environmental protections for those areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction that will in future be designated as marine protected areas.

My Lords, the treaty came into operation on Saturday, so this is a very appropriate day. My only sadness on this excellent occasion is that, as I said on Report, I believe that this is probably one of the last agreements that we will have internationally from the United Nations in the near future, given the disrespect that we increasingly have for international law and international agreements among the community and certain major players within the United Nations.

Having said that, this is a moment of celebration. We have made an important step forward in terms of biodiversity and the protection of nature across a very large proportion of our planet’s surface, which until now has been—as the Bill says—beyond jurisdiction. There are now 81 ratifications of that treaty, and we will hopefully very soon be among them. We expect the conference of the parties, probably in August, and the plea from our Benches is that the United Kingdom has one of the greatest ambitions at that first meeting and collaborates with other parties that have ratified the treaty to make sure that it really does mean something and makes a real change for our planet and our oceans.

I thank the Minister for her co-operation, help and advice as we have gone through this Bill, and for the way that she has listened. It has been good to have the opposition and government spokespeople speaking as one, generally, on what we have sought to achieve here. I thank my Whip’s Office, particularly Ulysse Abbate for his work, and Members on our Benches for the work that they have done on this Bill. Let us make this something that is really special and really works, allowing us to move towards the global target of a third of our oceans being put aside for protection and biodiversity in one of the most important areas of our planet.

I do not think that any Bill on the ocean would ever have gone far enough for me, but I am very happy that this Bill is passing. I congratulate the Minister on her efforts to keep us calm when we were getting a bit overexcited about what we wanted to see in the Bill. I look forward to watching exactly what happens at the forthcoming meetings.

Very quickly, given that there is such a high level of agreement and support, I thank noble Lords for their co-operation and efforts in getting this done. I note what the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, said about the conference of the parties; our intention is to play the fullest of roles in making this treaty work. Any time that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, wants a bit of calm or to dull the excitement a little bit, she knows where to find me.

Bill passed and returned to the Commons with amendments.