Speeches by Doughty.

“You may be referring to the media speculation I was responding to earlier. Rather than commenting on an individual vessel, I would say there is no clear evidence the Russians are undertaking any more than geophysical mapping of the ocean floor around Antarctica. Mapping would provide potential location of hydrocarbons …”

“If it is helpful, I will just say a little bit about the wider geopolitics and what is going on here. The treaty itself has been in force for 65 years. It is often described as one of the most effective international treaties. The aim of it is conflict prevention and peace in Antarctica. It has kept Antarctica as the o…”

“I should point out that we have taken over the chairship of CCAMLR now. We have nominated Robbie Bulloch as Chair of the Commission, and he is the incoming FCDO Director of the Overseas Territories and Polar from April. He is going to try to work in that role with all the parties to try to find consensus on the conserv…”

“We are always willing to try to find ways through on these crucial matters and that is particularly in our approach with China. The Foreign Secretary set out very clearly about where we need to co-operate with China on issues relating to climate, conservation and other matters. Obviously, it is quite a different circum…”

“Absolutely, Chair. We are well aware of the risks and the threats and that is why we are taking many of the actions that we are, whether that is the investment in the science, the investment in our facilities and resources, the investment in the diplomacy around this. It is one of the reasons why I have been trying to …”

“I am not confident. I will say progress is possible, but it very much depends on the circumstances. Russia’s disregard for the international rules-based order and system at the moment is apparent for all to see. That is manifesting in multiple locations, not just in its barbarous war in Ukraine but in its behaviour in …”

“I said a little bit before about our objectives for the treaty system overall in relation to the environment and some of the protocols and ways that that works. I will say a little bit about another area that is hugely relevant, which is mineral extraction. It is obviously a concern for many people, quite rightly. The …”

“You may be referring to the media speculation I was responding to earlier. Rather than commenting on an individual vessel, I would say there is no clear evidence the Russians are undertaking any more than geophysical mapping of the ocean floor around Antarctica. Mapping would provide potential location of hydrocarbons …”

“Ultimately, I do not have a particular insight into what is going on inside the Kremlin and its policies on climate change. Obviously, Russia remains a major hydrocarbon energy producer and, equally obviously, a lot of the money raised from that is going to fund its war in Ukraine. That is why we have been taking very …”

“On that point I completely agree. I think the Antarctic and the Arctic need to have far more attention in our minds, not only for the devastating potential shifts and loss of habitat biodiversity, the sea level rise risks, the wider feedback loop risks within the global environment and climate and the oceans itself and…”

“I probably would not agree with the characterisation of the treaty in that respect. We are committed to it. We are committed to making it a success. We also deal with a very complex and contested world at the moment, and we could fire off criticisms at all sorts of other multilateral agreements and bodies, but they are…”

“Absolutely, Chair. We are well aware of the risks and the threats and that is why we are taking many of the actions that we are, whether that is the investment in the science, the investment in our facilities and resources, the investment in the diplomacy around this. It is one of the reasons why I have been trying to …”

“Thank you very much for inviting us to be here today. We take these issues extremely seriously, both within my own responsibilities but also working across government, particularly given the missions that the Prime Minister has set out on climate change, on energy and on green transition and nature protection. Those el…”

“I might add that when you look at, for example, the impact on emperor penguin colonies, the low sea ice cover in 2022 resulted in the total breeding failure of four out of five of the emperor penguin colonies. We see a very direct and immediate impact on key species that we all want to see protected.”

“The only thing I would urge the Committee to consider, as well as small island states around the world and, indeed, the global sea rise and erosion effects globally, is that in our British family we have a number of small island states. I was just in the OTs in the Caribbean speaking with them directly about what they …”

“Specifically on plastics?”

“I will defer to Jane. She was in the conversation just a few minutes ago.”

“We remain huge supporters of the Blue Belt Programme. Indeed, we discussed this at the Joint Ministerial Council with the overseas territories leaders just a few weeks ago, and we have been encouraging further sign-ups. As you know, all government spending is part of the spending review processes, and it is not for me …”

“I will say a little introduction and pass to Jane, who has been part of some of the important discussions on this. We secured agreement on the first CCAMLR marine protected area in 2009 and we supported the Ross Sea region MPA designation in 2016. We have continued to advocate for a network of MPAs within the CCAMLR co…”

“I probably would not agree with the characterisation of the treaty in that respect. We are committed to it. We are committed to making it a success. We also deal with a very complex and contested world at the moment, and we could fire off criticisms at all sorts of other multilateral agreements and bodies, but they are…”