Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:01 pm on 1 July 2020.
Thank you, Mike Hedges. I think you’re quite right about the weather. It’s hard to believe that it was only during February recess when the First Minister and I were visiting areas, particularly around the Rhondda, that had been devastated by storm Dennis. The previous week, I’d been visiting Llanrwst up in north Wales that had been devastated by storm Ciara. And then, if we needed to be reminded that it’s not just in the winter, I think it was two weeks ago today, around Pentre again, that we had, I think it was, in 15 minutes, a month’s worth of rain. So, we are clearly seeing a pattern.
I went to school in the 1970s and I certainly remember lots of people referring to rain 'spitting', but we don’t see that now, you’re right: we have these torrential rain storms, unfortunately. So, we do need to look at our flooding defences. We’ve put significant funding into flood defences, but we don’t just want to see concrete; we want to see those natural solutions as well, and obviously trees form part of that. And you’re right: it is everybody’s responsibility. Government can’t do it on its own and we all need to look at how we can plant more trees. And that’s why I’m excited about the Local Places for Nature funding, because I think the impact of £10,000 just on a local area could be very significant. So, we need to do all we can to encourage that.
You’re quite right, again, about individuals. So, I hope Members will have picked up about our low-carbon heroes, and that, as we look towards the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to hear from people on how they changed their lifestyle during the COVID pandemic to see how we can achieve that carbon-neutral public sector, for instance, that we all want to see. And I referred to more people walking, more people cycling, more people working from home. One of the stories I’ve been told this week from someone is that they haven’t bought any new clothes or furniture; they’ve upcycled and recycled in a way that they haven’t done before. We’re seeing more people growing their own vegetables. So, I think it would be really good to capture all those stories and then, hopefully, make people realise that it’s about all of us changing our behaviour. And we are going to ask a great deal of people, but in order to make a difference, we are going to have to change our lifestyles.