5. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Nature, biodiversity and local places for nature

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:41 pm on 12 October 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:41, 12 October 2021

Diolch, Alun. Thank you. Yes, I take your point there, and, actually, interestingly enough, I'm having slight déjà vu here, because I remember asking you this question when you were the Minister and I was a backbencher, so we've been working on this for some time. So, what we've asked now—I've asked officials to explore what can be done to further improve the way that our national park authorities in particular manage the protected areas within their boundaries. There are a number of levers we have at our disposal to do that, and I know the national parks will be very keen to step up to that as well. So, we'll be having a series of meetings particularly with the national parks, but also looking at our areas of outstanding natural beauty and our other protected areas, to see what we can do to enhance the way that our designated landscapes are protected. And, as I say, this isn't just about protecting the landscape, this isn't about not doing it any further damage; this is about arresting the damage and then turning it around and actually bringing those areas back into good conservation order, so back into increased biodiversity.

There was a really worrying report that we had over the weekend about biodiversity loss—we should all be very, very worried about this. So, we need to really seriously look at not just not doing any further harm but actually enhancing and recovering all of our designated landscapes across Wales. And I'd be very happy, Alun, to work with yourself, other Members of the Senedd and our committees to make sure that we get the very best out of what we've already got designated, and, indeed, look to see whether we should be designating other landscapes across Wales.