Biodiversity Loss

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 15 May 2019.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 1:58, 15 May 2019

I welcome that response. As many others, I'm a species champion. I'm the species champion for lapwing here in the Assembly, and we know that we've gone from 7,500 breeding pairs within Wales since the 1980s to now fewer than 700, despite good work by people such as the Wildlife Trusts and others. The IPBES report shows the scale of the challenge, and we do face—. Whichever way you want to frame it, it is a crisis, it is an emergency, and it's not a new one. It's one that we've faced repeatedly through successive Governments as well, at a UK and a Wales level.

One appeal that I would make to the Minister in seeking to galvanise her and seeking to help her in terms of discussions with Cabinet colleagues is that we should try and address climate change and biodiversity together. Whilst they will have separate strands, there is a great deal of overlap in this, and too often within Government we've done one or the other and focused from time to time. Both need to be done together.

Secondly, and recognising the good work that the Government is doing already, about how we're going to need to step this up, and recognising that we have a progressive Minister here in front of us, could I suggest—just make some suggestions? And the First Minister, I hope, will be listening, so I'm adding to her strength here around the Cabinet table. We will need to look at the resources going forward and increasing the resources towards funding of halting and reversing biodiversity loss and the loss of nature. We will need to commit, carte blanche, to say that we will restore, enhance, connect all our important habitats, and actively invest in the recovery of species. We may need to consider legal targets for nature's recovery. We will need to look at ramping up step change in sustainable biodiversity-based food systems within Wales, and all that brings with it, and using nature-based solutions in a real, meaningful way, as highlighted in the IPBES report.