The Natural Environment in the South Wales Valleys

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 30 April 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:35, 30 April 2019

I want to agree with the Member about the seriousness of the position that we face in relation to biodiversity and the decline in species here in Wales. And the reason why, yesterday, my colleague Lesley Griffiths declared a climate emergency on behalf of Wales is both a recognition of the seriousness of intent that we have as a Welsh Government, our commitment to galvanize action inside the Welsh Government but far beyond, and to support the social movement that there is emerging in relation to climate change, because, while Government has a core responsibility—and we set out in our low-carbon plan 100 different actions that the Government intended to take—if we are to succeed in addressing what may be the single greatest threat to humankind at any time in our history, then those actions will have to go far beyond what Government itself is able to do, and that's why the social movement is so important. 

Now, Leanne Wood pointed to the fall in vertebrate populations across the United Kingdom—a fall of 60 per cent since 1970. She pointed to the problems of topsoil—85 per cent of the topsoil of East Anglia has disappeared since 1850, since intensive agriculture began. These are absolutely and fundamentally serious signs of what is happening in our environment, and we are determined as a Government to play our part in moving from a period of environmental decline to one of environmental growth. I think that support across this Chamber will be necessary to make that happen, and I know that there are Members in all parties who are committed to making that happen.