Ministers and senior officials from UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs) met online on 21st November 2023 to discuss the future of the environment in their jurisdictions. This was the seventh meeting of the Council of Environment Ministers (or equivalents) of UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies and took place on the Zoom platform of their secretariat, the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum . Previous meetings took place in Gibraltar in 2015, Alderney in 2017, the Isle of Man in February 2018 and online in April 2021,  October 2022 and May 2023.

The meeting was chaired by Hon. Professor John Cortés, Gibraltar’s Minister for Minister for Education, the Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change, Heritage, Technical Servces and Transport, and coordinated by the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF), a non-governmental organisation.

At the meeting were representatives from Alderney, Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, St Helena, Sark, and Tristan da Cunha, with apologies from the [British] Virgin Islands, Pitcairn and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Although very different in character, finances and their relationships with UK, the islands all boast beautiful environments that are important to economies and way of life. In terms of biodiversity, the UK Overseas Territories hold over 90% of the world biodiversity for which UK is responsible internationally. Many of these species, such as the Montserrat oriole and St Helena wirebird, occur nowhere else in the world.  UK Overseas Territories support more penguins than does any other nation.

An agreed statement was issued and can be seen here.

The meeting photo above shows some, but not all, of the participants. Those included are, from left to right, by rows from the top:

Hon. Prof. John Cortés, Minister for Education, the Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change, Heritage, Technical Services and Transport, Gibraltar (accompanied, off screen, by Dr Liesl Mesilio, CEO & Chief Scientist, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Climate Change)
Ms Gina Ebanks-Petrie, Director of Environment, Cayman Islands
Mr Ken Milne, Director of Environment, and Dr Richard Selman, Head of Ecosystems, Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture, Isle of Man
Mr Willie Peggie, Group Director – Natural Environment, States of Jersey
Dr Mike Pienkowski, Chairman, UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (Secretariat)
Mrs Ann Pienkowski, Environmental Education Coordinator, and Secretary of the Wider Caribbean Working Group, UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (Secretariat)
Mr Chris Carnegy, UK Representative, Tristan da Cunha
Hon. Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Resiliency, Cayman Islands
States Member Lin Maurice, Chair of the General Services Committee, States of Alderney
The Hon. Walter H Roban, JP, MP, Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, Bermuda
Mr Mike Jervois, Biodiversity Protection Advisor, Falkland Islands Government
Deputy Lindsay De Sausmarez, President of the Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure, States of Guernsey
Dr Carol Cragoe, La Société Sercquaise, Sark
Mr Jim Robinson, Director – Natural Environment, States of Guernsey
Mrs Catherine Wensink, Executive Director, UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (Secretariat)
Mr James Glass, Chief Islander and Director of Fisheries, Tristan da Cunha
Hon. Quincia M. Gumbs-Marie, Minister of Sustainability, Innovation and the Environment, Anguilla
Ms Chanelle Petty Barrett, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sustainability, Innovation and the Environment, Anguilla
Ms Jennifer Ahearn, Chief Officer, Ministry for Sustainability and Climate Resiliency, Cayman Islands
Mrs Kedell Worboys, UK Representative, St Helena
Mr Andrew Pettit, Director of Environment, Bermuda
Ms M. Rozy Azhar, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bermuda
Ms Dorothea Hodge, UK Representative, Anguilla
Dr James Robinson, Chair of IUCN-UK Protected Areas Working Group
Mr Sion McGeever, Deputy Director for Access, Landscapes, Peatland and Soil, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mr Elliott Miller, Team-leader on 30-by-30, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Ms Rachel Jones, Zoological Society of London
Ms Shauna Young, Zoological Society of London
Ms Maria Freitas, St Helena National Trust
Not captured on screen: Ms Terri Clingham, Environment, Natural Resources and Planning, St Helena