Wales ‘lacks a plan’ to deal with the scale of natural damage

Promises by the Welsh Government to tackle nature loss and boost biodiversity have been questioned in a highly critical report.

sened environment committee It warned that ministers lack “plan, action and investment” to address worrying declines in wildlife.

One in six species – such as the water vole and the curlew – are currently at risk of disappearing from Wales, which has seen its wildlife decline by an average of 20% over the past 30 years.

The Welsh Government said it was “committed to tackling the natural emergency” and would consider the report’s 30 recommendations.

The report concluded that existing legislation designed to protect the environment has not worked as intended, with biodiversity still in decline.

It said key policy documents created to guide the Welsh Government’s work on saving nature were also “years out of date”.

Promise to update A Nature Recovery Action Plan For example, action has not yet been taken, which the Committee described as “deeply worrying”.

It said its investigation, which heard from experts and organizations in the field, found numerous examples of “delays, unfulfilled commitments and missed deadlines”.

This was attributed to the lack of staff and resources dedicated to nature in the Welsh Government and isolated Cut your environmental watchdog Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

Ministers are ready to unveil a long-awaited nature bill Later this year, with new environmental protections.

In 2021, the government said it would include specific, legally binding targets to help species and ecosystems recover.

But the committee heard that this more detailed work on biodiversity targets is now likely to take another four years, meaning they will not come into force until at least 2029.

This is important because of the support of the Welsh Government historic international agreement Halting and beginning to reverse nature loss by 2030.

Then-Climate Change Minister Julie James attended the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal, Canada in 2022, where the agreement was reached, which also committed to the goal of protecting and managing 30% of land and ocean for nature by 2030. Was expressed.

Llyweil Gruffydd, chair of the Senedd’s climate change, environment and infrastructure committee, said the government’s rhetoric on nature loss “is not matched by action”.

“They’ve been talking the talk for a long time, now we have to see them walk the walk,” he said.

He argued that if biodiversity targets were not in place before 2029, the government “cannot be serious” about meeting its broader goal of a better picture of nature by 2030.

“This means that reneging on the international commitments they have made is not acceptable,” he said.

“We need to see swift action from the government, not this kind of lobbying… because if nature is harmed, humanity also suffers.”

Policy & Advocacy said, “With 2030 only five years away, the Welsh Government needs to prioritize setting targets to halt and reverse nature loss in Wales by 2030 to bring Wales into line with international biodiversity agreements which he has already signed.” Manager at WWF Cymru Alex Phillips.

Anne Smith, head of nature policy and casework at RSPB Cymru, said the report showed how the Welsh Government had made ambitious commitments to restore nature, but had failed to deliver on them.

“Continued underinvestment in our species and habitats has led to a situation where only a fraction of our protected areas are in good condition and our wildlife is declining at an alarming rate,” he said.

The Welsh Government said it “recognised the need to increase the scale and pace of our delivery to meet current and future biodiversity targets”.

A spokesperson pointed to initiatives such as national forest program and local places for nature Plan, and said that £150 million had been invested during this Senedd term alone on efforts to restore nature.

“As the report says, a whole-of-Wales approach is needed, it is not just for the government to deal with this,” he said.