Biodiversity Loss

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 15 May 2019.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 2:04, 15 May 2019

Minister, the red squirrel is the species that I'm the species champion of, and I'm very fortunate to have a good red squirrel population in the Clocaenog forest in my own constituency and, indeed, a breeding centre in the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay. But the red squirrel population has fallen to about 1,500 red squirrels across Wales at the moment. Most of them are on the isle of Anglesey. I've been fortunate enough to have visited the projects both in Anglesey and in Clocaenog, and I know that one of the challenges that the projects face is the continuity of funding from one project to the next. So I wonder what action the Welsh Government can take in order that there can be a more sustainable approach to funding for the core activities of organisations like the Clocaenog Red Squirrel Trust and the Red Squirrels Trust Wales, which has undertaken some very important work in protecting this iconic species here in Wales.