Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:34 pm on 12 October 2021.
Diolch, Joel. I absolutely am recognising the importance that the marine environment can play in addressing the climate, and I am absolutely committed to establishing a targeted scheme for the restoration of seagrass and salt marsh coastal habitats in this Senedd term. We'll absolutely be working hard to establish a sustainable fisheries management project across portfolios, working with my colleague Lesley Griffiths, along an ecosystem approach, as demonstrated by the new—[Inaudible.]—legislation, which I think you're familiar with, and which will soon be coming into force. We obviously need to do this in collaboration with a large number of other activities around the coast. The Wales marine action and advisory group, which advises me, is beginning to develop a blue recovery plan for the next Senedd term, focused on action for resilient marine ecosystems and the growth they can deliver, exactly as you say, through nature-based solutions and community-based developments. So, I'm very happy to confirm that we are indeed looking at exactly that. You're absolutely right: seagrass and salt marsh restoration plays a huge part in carbon sequestration and management.
Just to say a small thing about the tree point that you made, talking about trees is a little bit like the World Wildlife Fund talking about pandas—it’s the iconic bit of it. It’s not necessarily the most important bit; it’s the most eye-catching bit. So, we absolutely are aware that long-grass meadows, coastal habitats, salt marshes, the Gwent levels, blanket bogs, peatlands—there’s an enormous long list of types of landscape that carbon sequester just as well. So, I just want to reassure everybody that, although trees are the iconic bit at the front, we are absolutely aware that they are not the only solution, nor even probably the biggest solution, but they are the most iconic one.