The island will host UK overseas environment ministers next week.

Ministers and senior officials from UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will next week discuss the future of the environment in their jurisdictions.

The third Council of Environment Ministers of UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies takes place in Douglas on Feburary 6 and 7.

Geoffrey Boot MHK, the Isle of Man’s Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture, and Professor John Cortés, Gibraltar’s Minister for Education, Heritage, Environment, Energy and Climate Change will co-host the meeting which is co-ordinated by the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum.

The ministers will focus on sustainability of land and marine environments, climate change, the impact of natural disasters on ecosystem services, environmental resilience.

The meeting comes as the Isle of Man continues to celebrate the island’s designation as the first entire nation UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

The previous meetings were held in Gibraltar in 2015 and Alderney in the Channel Islands last year.

WELCOMING

Mr Boot said: ’I look forward to welcoming to the island fellow ministers and senior figures from British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies and from those as far afield as Bermuda, Montserrat, Tristan Da Cunha and Turks and Caicos Islands.

’As islands, they face common environmental challenges and we will pool knowledge and experience as we discuss their impact on our population and our planet. We will discuss joint and collaborative working, and approaches to discussions with the UK government, which will participate in the event on the second day.’

Dr Mike Pienkowski, chairman of UKOTCF, said: ’Ours is the only body solely concerned with conservation and environmentally sustainable use across UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies .

’We were honoured to have been asked again to organise the meeting, as a result of these years of bringing conservation practitioners together.

’The Isle of Man is a special place, with a strong focus on environment and a thriving tourism industry, and convening in such a fantastic location should greatly stimulate our discussions.’

Representatives of territories such as Anguilla, the Falkland Islands, Pitcairn and St Helena, who are unable to make the travel, will join the meeting via Skype.