Thank you, Llywydd. At 40 years of age this year, the Dyfi Biosphere has been one of the six designated UNESCO biosphere reserves in the UK. It was renamed and extended in 2001, and by now it extends from Aberystwyth to Llanbryn-mair and from Borth to Dinas Mawddwy. It has a clear, decisive vision, namely that the Dyfi Biosphere will be recognised and respected internationally, nationally and locally for the diversity of its natural beauty, its heritage and its wildlife, and for the effort of the people there to make a positive contribution to a more sustainable world. It will be a self-confident, healthy, caring and bilingual community, supported by a strong locally based economy.

To meet that challenging and exciting vision, it has nine main objectives. One of them is to ensure that it will be a bilingual community that will be recognised and respected for its heritage. Therefore, the biosphere status relates to far more than just the environment—it encompasses the situation of the Welsh language around the Dyfi estuary.

I’d like to thank and applaud the Dyfi Biosphere for its work, not only as a platform for sustainable development, but for its decisiveness in placing the Welsh language at the heart of its activities. I therefore encourage the Welsh Government to respect and promote the biosphere as an exemplar of sustainability in Wales that has international status, and to work with UNESCO to secure its future.